Cartridge aging and tip wear symtoms?

A worn out cart will start to distort on the inner groves.Its a symptom.I know i have had it happen to me.
FACT!

You can certainly get a lot of cartridges to play for years. But- they won't sound right nor will they track right. So far I don't know of anything that lasts forever, although in terms of recordings, LPs are probably the longest-lived media.

Sibilance, inner groove distortion, high end roll off.

Of utmost importance is keeping the stylus clean. Do a search for the "Magic Eraser" threads. There is nothing comparable to this inexpensive little gadget.

I just got a new cart. and have to go thru all the "break in" time that others claim. I had a used MC that I thought sounded pretty good, it might have been at least 20 years old but with little wear. It did not have any symptoms of old age that I could detect, tracked well and no distortion. Well I decided to put it on ebay and now perhaps almost regret it. The buyer took a long time to pay. I was almost hoping he was a non payer so I could change my mind. No matter, he came thru eventually and I shipped today. I expect to get the long life from this new MC. Well be glad you don't have a Victrola. The needles were good for exactly one play each, if the steel type! I have a Victrola and they still make the needles for the wind up acoustic things! Direct to disc, no electronic distortions. So must sound great!

The 20 year old Fidelity Research Mk1 3f shows no signs of distress when I play track 5,Cartridge tracking tests on the Audio System Test Record(Nat'l Research Council of Canada).
No loss of high end content either.
I think it is wrong to believe that a cartridge will wear out in such a short period of time as 2-4 years.
If handled properly, it should last longer.
You don't suppose the people who sell cartridges might have something to do with this type of audio mind set?
This cartridge I might add has seen service first on a LP12 with a FR12 arm, then an Oracle Delphi with EMT 11 arm,this is a span of 7 yearsof constant use before cd play.
Then it sat in it's box for the next dozen or more years until on a whim I tried it out on a VPI Scout.
I had been into some Grados and forgot why I stopped using the FR.
The best that the cartridge has ever sounded is now on a Rega P9 with the 1000 arm.
Even old scratched lps have less noise than when the cartridge was on the Scout.
I was looking at buying one of the newer mc, but that's not going to happen until this one bites the dust.
So,not all cartridges degenerate over time in my experience.
Maybe the FR's were just well built back in the 70's.
Maybe that's why they went out of business.
I wonder if the Shelter's will hold up like the FR's did.
Same designer.