Optical recording medium having an area for recording a plurality of recording/reproduction conditions to be used in recording/reproduction apparatuses and recording/reproduction method and apparatus therefor

A recording/reproduction apparatus for recording information on and reproducing information from a rewritable type optical recording medium on which a plurality of recording/reproduction conditions can be recorded together with apparatus information, said recording/reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a controller operable to determine an optimum recording/reproduction condition for a recording/reproduction apparatus which is to be used for at least one of recording information and reproducing information by conducting a test recording, record the optimum recording/reproduction condition in a first condition recording area on the rewritable type optical recording medium, and record the same information recorded in the first condition recording area in a second condition recording area on the rewritable type optical recording medium,
• wherein when a number of recording/reproduction conditions recorded in the first condition recording area is a predetermined number, an oldest recording/reproduction condition is deleted from the first condition recording area and the optimum recording/reproduction condition is recorded in the first condition recording area.