[Xophmeister]

> Can't help but feel that IPA will go the way of cursive once tools like this propagate.

IPA is necessary in phonetic and phonological research. You need a way to transcribe and abstract sounds consistently; you can't just submit a recording, along with your paper, to a journal.

[ddrum001]

Fair, perhaps the cursive analogy is too strong, though I'm sure that cursive still has a role in research of historical documents. IPA still has an important role in specialized situations, but I don't quite think it's something that should be known for the general public (e.g. the average wikipedia reader).