diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6ba4b85702..b51b3fcca8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2004-06-01  Thomas Vander Stichele  <thomas at apestaart dot org>
+
+	* gst-libs/gst/media-info/media-info-priv.c: (gmi_set_mime):
+          change assert to a more readable error message
+
 2004-05-31  Stephane Loeuillet  <stephane.loeuillet@tiscali.fr>
 
 	* gst-libs/gst/tuner/tunerchannel.h:
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/media-info/media-info-priv.c b/gst-libs/gst/media-info/media-info-priv.c
index 22ac6c45f7..fc0e9be80b 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/media-info/media-info-priv.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/media-info/media-info-priv.c
@@ -395,6 +395,9 @@ gmi_set_mime (GstMediaInfo * info, const char *mime)
   }
   /* get a bunch of elements from the bin */
   priv->source = gst_bin_get_by_name (GST_BIN (priv->pipeline), "source");
+  if (!GST_IS_ELEMENT (priv->source))
+    g_error ("Could not create source element '%s'", priv->source_name);
+
   g_assert (GST_IS_ELEMENT (priv->source));
   g_object_set (G_OBJECT (priv->source), "location", priv->location, NULL);
   priv->decoder = gst_bin_get_by_name (GST_BIN (priv->pipeline), "decoder");