Patent ID: 8081866

Claim:
A playback apparatus, comprising: classified region selecting means for selecting a classified region at random from among a plurality of classified regions on a recording medium, the recording medium including recorded data managed such that a plurality of pieces of unit data belong to corresponding classified regions serving as data storage logical regions generated in accordance with a predetermined classification rule; unit data selecting means for selecting a piece of unit data from among the pieces of unit data that belong to the selected classified region; reading means for reading from the recording medium the selected piece of unit data in order to play back the selected piece of unit data; and execution control means for controlling the repeated execution of a series of selecting and reading operations including selection of a classified region from the classified regions available for selection by the classified region selecting means, selection of a piece of unit data by the unit data selecting means, and reading of the selected piece of unit data by the reading means, wherein a classified region already selected is excluded from the classified regions available for selection.