Need advice on new CD/DVD reader

I currently have a Toshiba DVD drive model SD-M1612.
It is terrible.
It's supposed to read DVD's at 16X but it takes longer
to read and install programs than my old 12X Toshiba DVD
drive.
I tried playing a DVD game on it and it took an average
of 16 seconds to respond to a mouse click. That was on
a PIII 750. The game actually played faster on my PII 400
and I suspect the drive's slow read speed.

I've heard some Toshiba drives have funky firmware
to prevent or slow down copying. I don't know if that
is the problem or whether this drive just has a bad
motor. It doesn't make errors. It just takes too &#%$!
long to read. If installing and using software I
bought is considered "copying" I don't want any
restrictions on speed as regards "copying."

I'd like to replace the drive with something faster.
But if the problem is the firmware, I don't want to
run into the same problem with another drive.

Any suggestions on a good reader?