Electret Mics

An electret is a condensor with a permanently chaged back plate (as opposed to one that is externally charged when you operate it). Electrets used to be cheap and of rather poor quality compared to condensors with externally charged backplates, but these days there are plenty of good electrets around. So, from a practical standpoint, knowing whether a mic is electret or not doesn't really tell you much about whether it's going to be any good or not.
 
Biggest difference is that the electret can do with much less voltage and power than a "real" condensor mic.

Also they age: lose sensitivity over the years because the backplate very, very slowly loses charge. This is irreversible. But it takes years for this to become noticeble. Very rarely if ever mentioned in the specs.
 
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