Advice on Shure cartridge, please

I hear the new Ortofon MMs are very good and somewhat similar to the Shure.

It is the small rubber cantilever suspension part or parts that dry out... I suppose it is true however I've used some cartridges over a decade with no audible problems that I could detect.
If you like the Shure V15, well, you could get a new one, I think they are still around (?) and for what, $300 or so? They track great. Have you tried the better Grado's for around the same price? hard to beat; alot cheaper than $2-5K moving coils! If you need MM level, try the high output Benz cartridges.

Plastic in the cartridge dried out? Never heard that one before. Usually they say it's the stylus suspension. I've got several 30-40 year old carts that sound just fine (like yours). You can always replace the stylus assembly (it may take some time to find one, but they're out there), but I sure wouldn't sweat the cartridge plastic, which will outlive us all :-) Good luck, Dave

Dear Lswlam: IMHO if like you say the cartridge performance is fine then this is of what you have to worry about not what happen if......, when the cartridge performance will be different/bad then yu have to change it.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.