They do have a new product coming out in June that might replace a lot of the leap pad stuff (especially since they are permanently reduced). The new product is called Tag and you can see a preview of it here:
http://www.leapfrog.com/tag/It'll probably be as expensive as the regular price books and I don't think it will work with any of the current books. I'm happy to get a deal now and use the current leap pad. I also like that the current leap pad gives you a surface to hold the book, where the new one is a pen that you use with just a book. I don't have any experience with the Read and Write Leap Pad yet, so I can't tell you which one to get, but I do like our My First Leap Pad for my almost 3 year old (33 months).
I hope that helps a little.....