Was your first cartridge relatively expensive?

I was told by my dealer and others that the list of importance goes. 1.cartridge 2.phono stage 3.arm 4.table

I have recently upgraded from an entry level setup to something that is far more expensive, and while the new rig sounds better, the big jump is going from only having digital to haveing an entry level turntable.

Ejlif, no offense, but I'd find another dealer. I've been playing records for a lot longer than 50 years and the table itself is by far the most important element. People thought Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn Sondek) was crazy when he propounded this idea in the 70s. He wasn't.

First cartridge after 20 years was a Grado Green @ $60. It ran on an old Sansui table and sounded great. I upgraded modestly to a NAD533 and now use a Denon DL-110 that I got used for $85. Analog doesn't have to cost $$$. For the small ammount of money I am spending I am getting much more enjoyment from my table than from CD ... and now I building a Hagerman Bugle phono pre - never thought I would be doing that! And this is much much fun.

Howie, from what you've described elsewhere about your objectives, I'd encourage you to consider a first cartridge in the $500-$900 price range. Below that, I don't think you'll get a good sense of what your vinyl playback can sound like in your system. And above that an accident will be a really painful experience. As others have pointed out already, the cartridge will wear out and have to be replaced at some point and you can always upgrade at that point (or before).

There is definitely a learning curve with vinyl playback, both as to set up and as to handling the LPs and the hardware. Cartridges are very robust critters, but most of us have destroyed a cantilever by accident somewhere along the line.

In the price range I've suggested there are a number of cartridges that will perform very well, the choice depending on what tonearm you end up getting and with due consideration to your listening priorities.

If budget becomes an issue, I would definitely opt for spending even less on a cartridge in order to spend more on the phono stage. A big mistake many people make is to spend too little on the phono stage. In my experience, the phono stage is critical to a good vinyl front end.
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12-29-05: Dazzdax
The Denon DL-103 is a very fairly priced cartridge. It is also capable of giving very satisfactory sonic results. But it is not a beginners cartridge, because it can sound good only with heavy and very heavy arms.

This is not true.
The Denon 103 works very well in most quality medium mass arms. It sounds very good in my Graham (effective mass 11g) and works in just as well in SME, Rega and VPI medium mass arms - to name a few. Denon quotes a very low compliance, but this is dynamic compliance at 100hz. Static compliance at 10hz is significantly higher. In my Graham arm the 103R has lateral/vertical resonant frequencies of 10/12Hz respectively. This is pretty much ideal.