To provide a medium playback system and a medium player for controlling the playback of a recording medium without limiting its recording capacity, and also to provide an optical recording medium and a control program thereof.

A semiconductor memory capable of non-contact communication is provided in an optical recording medium and the reproduction permission information is selectively recorded in this memory. The medium player determines that the reproduction of the optical recording medium is permitted when the reproduction permission information is already recorded in the semiconductor memory, and reproduces the information recorded in the information recording area of the optical recording medium when the reproduction of the optical recording medium is permitted.