Moving from MM to MC

I agree your next move should be to a good MM/MI cart. There will be a great improvement in SQ over your budget Shure cart.
Keep in mind that MC is very revealing of not only the music on the vinyl, but will reveal any flaws plus noise from your phonostage. If the cart/tonearm  is not accurately set up, the sound quality will suffer. That is why a good MC setup is expensive. You would need to spend considerably more on a phonostage than the unit you selected. The quality of the power supply is also important to achieve higher-end sonics.

@chakster makes a good point. He is using a modified tonearm with better damping than your stock Technics. And your stock TT is not optimal for MC. There are many good MM/MI carts available for $300 which would be a significant upgrade in SQ.

I was going to recommend a Grado as well. But, with the Grado's unshielded design, will it pick up hum from the Technics motor? Anybody with experience to answer this question?