Method of setting an initial position of a pickup based on disk recognition and a disk player therefor

An initial position setting method of a pickup based on disk recognition, so as to position the pickup at a start position of a lead-in area of a disk loaded in a disk player, said loaded disk being one of a plurality of types of disk, each of said plurality of types of disk being characterized by having a lead-in area located a unique distance from the center of the disk, the initial position setting method comprising the steps of:

• positioning the pickup at a predetermined position of the disk loaded in the disk player, the predetermined position corresponding to a position between start positions of lead-in areas of respective types of disks;
• reading signals from an area of the loaded disk corresponding to the predetermined position, the read signals containing information identifying the type of the loaded disk;
• recognizing the type of the loaded disk based on the read signals;
• and
• re-positioning the pickup to a start position of the lead-in area of the loaded disk based on the step of recognizing the type of the loaded disk;
• wherein said recognizing step comprises the sub-steps of:
• judging whether or not the read signals contain information stored on the loaded disk;
• judging that the loaded disk is a mini-disk having a lead-in area a relatively short distance from a center of the loaded disk if it is judged that the read signals contain information stored on the loaded disk;
• and
• judging that the loaded disk is a compact disk having a lead-in area a relatively long distance from the center of the loaded disk if it is judged that the read signals do not contain information stored on the loaded disk.