@clearthink,
Your analogy of 'used underwear' smells a bit funny and frankly makes no sense. Stylus wear from normal use is very gradual, so with previously owned 'modern' cartridges the risk of damaging your records is negligable. It seems to me some people are way too sensitive about this.
Perhaps I don't take this so seriously because 99,9% of my vinyl collection consists of previously owned records, originating from the 50's, 60's and 70's. Any idea what normal people in those days used as 'turntables'? I remember our own family record player, one of those ugly jobs with a plastic 'tonearm' you had to pull to the right in order to start the 'motor'. It had some sort of headpiece (where we now expect to see a cartridge) that came equipped with the facility of 'flipping' over the stylus after a certain number of hours of play (these were sapphire you see, not diamond). You were also supposed to manually bring the stylus into the groove, preferably without dropping it. Armlift? Tracking force gauge? Yeah right. I even remember a coin attached to the headpiece to get sufficient (5 gram? 10 gram? nobody knew or cared) downforce to keep the stylus in the groove.
It's really a miracle so many copies actually survived these crude devices and the 'non-audiophile' lifestyles that usually came with it. Not only that, we cherish them for amazing sound quality even the best audiophile reissues cannot approach. Are you really worried these records will be damaged from being played by a slightly worn modern diamond stylus with some advanced profile?
