Patent ID: 8094534

Claim:
An information reproducing apparatus, comprising: a waveform shaping device for performing waveform shaping on a read signal read from a recording medium, on the basis of a reference amplification factor; a correcting device for correcting waveform distortion occurring in a read signal corresponding to at least a long mark, of the read signal on which the waveform shaping is performed by said waveform shaping device; and a waveform equalizing device for performing a waveform equalization process on the read signal in which the waveform distortion is corrected, said waveform shaping device arbitrarily increasing the reference amplification factor, wherein said waveform shaping device judges whether or not the reference amplification factor is to be increased on the basis of a relation between a signal level of record data with the shortest run length and a reference level in the read signal, and wherein said waveform shaping device increases the reference amplification factor if reflectance of a mark is less than that of a space and if a maximum value of the signal level of the record data with the shortest run length is less than the reference level.