diff --git a/morituri/image/image.py b/morituri/image/image.py
index dc3cafef..33c166ad 100644
--- a/morituri/image/image.py
+++ b/morituri/image/image.py
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ def stop(self):
                 self.setException(taskk.exception)
                 break
 
+            if taskk.length is None:
+                raise ValueError("Track length was not found; look for "
+                    "earlier errors in debug log (set RIP_DEBUG=4)")
             # print '%d has length %d' % (trackIndex, taskk.length)
             index = track.indexes[1]
             assert taskk.length % common.SAMPLES_PER_FRAME == 0
diff --git a/morituri/rip/main.py b/morituri/rip/main.py
index b6f82be3..93ad0001 100644
--- a/morituri/rip/main.py
+++ b/morituri/rip/main.py
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ def main():
                 'rip: error: Could not create encoded file.\n')
             return 255
 
-        raise
+        # in python3 we can instead do `raise e.exception` as that would show
+        # the exception's original context
+        sys.stderr.write(e.exceptionMessage)
+        return 255
     except command.CommandError, e:
         sys.stderr.write('rip: error: %s\n' % e.output)
         return e.status