A recording and reproduction apparatus using a plurality of generations of optical recording media and an optical recording medium used in such a recording and reproduction apparatus, wherein the optical recording medium comprises first and second recording areas, the first recording area is divided into a plurality of zones, each of the plurality of zones is divided into a plurality of divided areas of one type among a plurality of types set in advance, the plurality of divided areas are assigned addresses and have fixed recording capacities, and identification information indicating the one type is recorded in the second recording area. The apparatus focuses a laser beam on the second recording area to read the identification information and records information on the first recording area or detects recorded information of the first recording area based on the identification information. The optical recording medium is for example a magneto-optical disk.