Hmz, I got mine from a gamestore in Utrecht called 'Dr. Games'. They do have a website of which I can't remeber the link. It's true that the large chains (Media Markt, FRS, E-Plaza) don't support it 'cause it's quite a niche game and they're not likely to sell it in large quantities. Smaller shops like Dr. Games can and will actually buy smaller amounts of these games.
About the CD/DVD sissue -- all I know is that my copy is on a purplish blue disc which makes more noise when in my PS2 than an average disc... Fortunately the din of the explosions n the game drown out this small inconveniency with great ease

Idd, my copy of GradiusV also makes a LOT of noise in the PS2

In order to find out what media your game is on, check the box and/or the disc itself:

My Gradius V (NTSC-J) is a CD-ROM - says so on the back cover and on the disc. The data-side is purple/blue and the box has a crap holding mechanism - one of the clips broke off very soon .

Great game tho .

@BHR: are you sure it's a genuine one? purple/blue doesn't sound too well

@[D-Tail] it -IS- a genuine one - it runs nicely on my unmodified Asian PStwo thank you very much. But then how many original PS2 games have you bought lately?

You got me there, dude

But then again, why should I? I don't have a PS2