diff --git a/src/library/libraryplaylistitem.cpp b/src/library/libraryplaylistitem.cpp
index c91ba6500..e166114a4 100644
--- a/src/library/libraryplaylistitem.cpp
+++ b/src/library/libraryplaylistitem.cpp
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 #include "libraryplaylistitem.h"
 
-#include <QtDebug>
 #include <QSettings>
 
 LibraryPlaylistItem::LibraryPlaylistItem(const QString& type)
diff --git a/src/playlist/playlist.cpp b/src/playlist/playlist.cpp
index 12b511d61..b290ad1c1 100644
--- a/src/playlist/playlist.cpp
+++ b/src/playlist/playlist.cpp
@@ -1123,14 +1123,27 @@ void Playlist::ItemsLoaded() {
   watcher->deleteLater();
 
   PlaylistItemList items = watcher->future().results();
+
+  // backend returns empty elements for items which it couldn't 
+  // match (because they got deleted); we don't need those
+  QMutableListIterator<PlaylistItemPtr> it(items);
+  while (it.hasNext()) {
+    if (it.next()->Metadata().filename().isEmpty()) {
+      it.remove();
+    }
+  }
+
   is_loading_ = true;
   InsertItems(items, 0);
   is_loading_ = false;
 
   PlaylistBackend::Playlist p = backend_->GetPlaylist(id_);
 
-  last_played_item_index_ =
-      p.last_played == -1 ? QModelIndex() : index(p.last_played);
+  // the newly loaded list of items might be shorter than it was before so
+  // look out for a bad last_played index
+  last_played_item_index_ = p.last_played == -1 || p.last_played >= rowCount()
+                                ? QModelIndex()
+                                : index(p.last_played);
 
   if (!p.dynamic_type.isEmpty()) {
     GeneratorPtr gen = Generator::Create(p.dynamic_type);
@@ -1361,9 +1374,11 @@ void Playlist::RemoveItemsNotInQueue() {
 
 void Playlist::ReloadItems(const QList<int>& rows) {
   foreach (int row, rows) {
-    item_at(row)->Reload();
+    PlaylistItemPtr item = item_at(row);
+
+    item->Reload();
     InformOfCurrentSongChange(index(row, 0), index(row, ColumnCount-1),
-                              item_at(row)->Metadata());
+                              item->Metadata());
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/playlist/playlistbackend.h b/src/playlist/playlistbackend.h
index 39098792d..ae3cd0e3b 100644
--- a/src/playlist/playlistbackend.h
+++ b/src/playlist/playlistbackend.h
@@ -53,13 +53,14 @@ class PlaylistBackend : public QObject {
   PlaylistList GetAllPlaylists();
   Playlist GetPlaylist(int id);
   PlaylistItemFuture GetPlaylistItems(int playlist);
-  void SavePlaylistAsync(int playlist, const PlaylistItemList& items,
-                         int last_played, smart_playlists::GeneratorPtr dynamic);
+
   void SetPlaylistOrder(const QList<int>& ids);
 
   int CreatePlaylist(const QString& name);
-  void RemovePlaylist(int id);
+  void SavePlaylistAsync(int playlist, const PlaylistItemList& items,
+                         int last_played, smart_playlists::GeneratorPtr dynamic);
   void RenamePlaylist(int id, const QString& new_name);
+  void RemovePlaylist(int id);
 
   void SetLibrary(LibraryBackend* library);
 
diff --git a/src/playlist/playlistmanager.cpp b/src/playlist/playlistmanager.cpp
index b6fab59ce..e1876f514 100644
--- a/src/playlist/playlistmanager.cpp
+++ b/src/playlist/playlistmanager.cpp
@@ -342,7 +342,8 @@ void PlaylistManager::SongChangeRequestProcessed(const QUrl& url, bool valid) {
       Song current_song = current->Metadata();
 
       // if validity has changed, reload the item
-      if(current_song.url() == url && current_song.filetype() != Song::Type_Stream &&
+      if(current_song.filetype() != Song::Type_Stream &&
+         current_song.filename() == url.toLocalFile() &&
          current_song.is_valid() != QFile::exists(current_song.filename())) {
         playlist->ReloadItems(QList<int>() << playlist->current_row());
       }