PURPOSE: To increase the recording density, by making effective use of a vertical component to the magnetizing direction of the transverse recording.

CONSTITUTION: A transverse recording head 4 performs the transverse recording vertical to the shifting direction or the track direction of a magnetic medium 3. A reproducing head 5 reads the magnetized component of the shifting direction or the track direction of the medium 3. The head 4 performs the normal transverse recording; while the head 5 has a gap in the direction orthogonal to the gap of the head 4 and is set at the edge of the track which is written by the head 4. The medium 3 is magnetized alternately in the direction vertical to the track direction by supplying a current to the coil of the head 4. The head 4 has a gap G which is sufficiently smaller than the recording wavelength and delivers an output signal through its coil.