Recording medium, recording apparatus, and reading apparatus

摘要

Within a sub-code to be recorded in a recording medium, the physical characteristics of the recording medium are recorded. This enables a recording apparatus or a reading apparatus to easily and correctly determine the physical characteristics of the recording medium by reading the subcode. The physical characteristic information includes information concerning the material, the disc type, the linear velocity, the track pitch, the moment of inertia, and the size/configuration of the recording medium. It is thus possible to easily and correctly determine the physical characteristics of the disc (or unit area) while maintaining the compatibility with known recording media.