Recording medium having text information recorded in a plurality of subcode channels and reproducing apparatus

A recording medium (41) in which the subcode is recorded in association with main data, and a reproducing apparatus for reproducing the recording medium (61). On the disc-shaped recording medium (41), there is provided a management area suitable for coding and recording the letter information for displaying the letter information capable of coping with the program information recorded in the program area or the letter information specifying the types or the classification of the disc-shaped recording medium. In addition, when reproducing the disc-shaped recording medium, it is discerned (66) whether the TEXT data (2) or the graphics information is to be decoded (54) on the basis of the mode information provided in the management area of the disc-shaped recording medium, and a decoding circuit (54) is switched (60) based on the discriminated result for selecting the display (49, 58) in order to cope with various different disc-shaped recording media.