Recording medium apparatus for inhibiting playback of predetermined recorded portions

A recording medium playing apparatus capable of, in addition to an ordinary playback mode, a special playback mode in which a playback of said recording medium proceeds in accordance with processing of predetermined data read from said recording medium and input operations, comprising:

• a processor;
• a mode-selection key connected to said processor to select one of said ordinary playback mode or said special playback mode;
• a memory connected to said processor to store a mask-clearing signal for each of a plurality of units of information recorded on said recording medium, said mask-clearing signal representing that a corresponding one of said plurality of units of information is to be reproduced by said recording medium playing apparatus when operating in said special playback mode, said processor determining whether or not said mask-clearing signal is stored in said memory for each of said plurality of units of information;
• and
• a mask-flag table in said memory including information corresponding to an output condition of said corresponding ones of said plurality of units of information from said recording medium playing apparatus, said mask-flag table information inhibiting said output of said corresponding one of said plurality of unit of information when said mask-clearing signal corresponding to said corresponding one of said plurality of units of information is stored in said memory at a first level, and allowing said output of said corresponding one of said plurality of unit of information when said mask-clearing signal corresponding to said corresponding one of said plurality of units of information is stored in said memory at a second level.