Which of the current dvdrom or dvdrw drives would you consider as the best reader for old / deteriorated media?
Any particular one on par with Asus E616?
Sadly I can’t get that in my country anymore, only shop that’s still listing it charges more than its cost for delivery…
I wouldn’t say that m8 
. I found many eshops in Greece that can deliver it or you may get if from their shop. HERE is a list of them.
If you took a closer look at the search results you’d see I’m right when saying so. more info
Any on-topic replies please?
Let me get this straight : You want a drive listed availabe in 5 different shops but you actually don’t want to pay courrier shipping costs of >0.5kg although you don’t live in a big city in Greece and want cash on delivery. Did all shops listed in skroutz gave you high shipping fees (I don’t think so)?.You didn’t even call them to check their availability. Anyhow, don’t expect equal shipping since you live in Styllida and not in a major off capital city !! Good luck with your quest for holy grail !
P.S: Off-topic because I try to help ? 
I mean the nerve :Z
Dude, first off let me apologise because I see that you took it all wrong.
Of course I didn’t mean to boo you off, I was mearly asking for a reply of yours (or others’) focused on alternative “best readers”.
Regarding the Asus E616 model I see that you prefer to ignore the answer I reffered you to in our native language so I’ll try and give it to you in English.
Search results listings:
1] Located in Germany (big shipping costs)
2] Diffirent model
3] Diffirent model
4] Not available
5] Diffirent model
6] Not available (listed as “coming” for a few good months)
6] Diffirent model
7] Diffirent model (SATA)
As for delivery in my town, again as you could see from the topic I referred you to, I have never paid more than 8 euros C.O.D. for much greater weights.
It is not an out of reach place as you may imagine, on the contrary it is situated in a very accessible geolocation.
Also I never said I expected to pay inner-city rates.
UPDATE:
Taking a fresh look today showed 4 and 6 as available!
Seems like I’ll be getting some after all ;p