diff --git a/src/playlist/control.c b/src/playlist/control.c
index a7e2ea241de249d01c32a09021277901c775dee1..e9613544598cf0269632411506a30220c5b268e4 100644
--- a/src/playlist/control.c
+++ b/src/playlist/control.c
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ static int PlaylistVAControl( playlist_t * p_playlist, int i_query, va_list args
         {
             p_node = p_playlist->status.p_node;
             assert( p_node );
+            if( !p_node )
+                break;
         }
         p_playlist->request.i_status = PLAYLIST_RUNNING;
         p_playlist->request.i_skip = 0;
diff --git a/src/playlist/engine.c b/src/playlist/engine.c
index d405e41107bdc98fb12d077e229b6560ff7a8d59..fcbffa5ba882012aba4409a077d65b111458de71 100644
--- a/src/playlist/engine.c
+++ b/src/playlist/engine.c
@@ -594,7 +594,8 @@ void playlist_FetcherLoop( playlist_fetcher_t *p_obj )
         vlc_mutex_unlock( &p_obj->object_lock );
         if( p_item )
         {
-            assert( p_item->p_meta );
+            if( !p_item->p_meta )
+                return;
             if( !b_fetch_art )
             {
                 input_MetaFetch( p_playlist, p_item );
diff --git a/src/playlist/search.c b/src/playlist/search.c
index c831566e3327ba24080e5c511e23fcc843da1d4f..9f8402deababd2f06599a08b25fdea6fe427e5b6 100644
--- a/src/playlist/search.c
+++ b/src/playlist/search.c
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ playlist_item_t * playlist_ItemGetByInputId( playlist_t *p_playlist,
                                              playlist_item_t *p_root )
 {
     int i;
-    assert( p_root != NULL );
+
+    if( !p_root ) return NULL;
     for( i = 0 ; i< p_root->i_children ; i++ )
     {
         if( p_root->pp_children[i]->i_children == -1 &&