An apparatus for reproducing recorded information reads information from the track surface of a CD-ROM disk 1, performs error detection and correction processing on the read information to reproduce recorded information and then outputs the reproduced information. This apparatus includes a control device 11, which switches a reproduction operation to the standard speed mode in response to a correction failure condition generated in the quadruple speed mode and retries standard-speed reading of the information read with an error uncorrectable in the quadruple speed mode. Reducing the signal read speed to one-fourth in the retry processing at the standard speed improves the C/N ratio of the high-frequency signal RF by 6 dB, which in turn improves the correction capability for random errors.