Method and apparatus for track type identification, and method of track jump

The track jumping of a scanner on optical storage media in which information items are stored on groove and land tracks or which have not yet been written to is intended to be made possible in a reliable manner. For this purpose, firstly a fictitious track type is defined for a regulating circuit, which regulates the position of the scanner. The regulating circuit is then closed on the basis of the track type defined and a track scanning signal. The reaction of the scanner to the closing is detected in order to obtain from this an item of information about the track type. This method is also advantageous, in principle, for closing the track following regulation in information carriers having relatively high storage densities.