Changing Permalink Structure to break backlinks?

I’m working on getting a new theme designed, and once that’s done upgrading my WP to the most recent version (or at the same time I guess.) When I do that there are a lot of things I want to change, including updating the Permalink structure.

The structure is currently set at /%date%/%title%/ – so the URL looks like “http://www.——–.net/2008/01/15/This-is-the-post-title”

That looks way sloppy, so I want to get rid of the date. However, I’m afraid that’s going to break all of my backlinks.

One workaround suggested was using the plugin found here: http://www.deanlee.cn/wordpress/permalinks-migration-plugin/

Has anybody used that plugin or heard about any problems? Is that a long-term fix?

Is there a better solution?

Thanks for any help.