Patent ID: 8213780

Claim:
An information recording/reproducing apparatus including a CPU and a memory for recording and reproducing information, comprising: a recording/reproducing unit that records, responsive to the CPU and the memory, an information item into, and reproduces, responsive to the CPU and the memory, an information item from, a recording medium; and a determining unit that determines, responsive to the CPU and the memory, whether the information item is a video data item, and prevents, responsive to the CPU and the memory, changing a reproduction speed of the recording/reproduction unit during reproduction if the determining unit determines that the information item is a video data item, and allows, responsive to the CPU and the memory, decreasing the reproduction speed during reproduction if the determining unit determines that the information item is not a video data item; wherein the recording/reproducing unit is configured to alternately record and reproduce the information item to the recording medium; wherein the recording/reproducing unit is configured to reproduce an already-recorded portion of the information item while recording a yet-to-be-recorded portion of the information item in the recording medium; and wherein the determining unit determines whether an information recording command is received within a predetermined time, and wherein, if the determining unit determines (1) that the information item is not a video item and (2) that an information recording command is not received within the predetermined time, then the determining unit allows increasing of the reproduction speed during reproduction of the information item.