diff --git a/stepmania/src/arch/ArchHooks/ArchHooks_darwin.cpp b/stepmania/src/arch/ArchHooks/ArchHooks_darwin.cpp
index 3748c4603a..72fad07ecf 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/arch/ArchHooks/ArchHooks_darwin.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/arch/ArchHooks/ArchHooks_darwin.cpp
@@ -172,7 +172,8 @@ RString ArchHooks_darwin::GetMachineId() const
 			
 			if( serial )
 			{
-				ret = CFStringGetCStringPtr( (CFStringRef)serial, kCFStringEncodingMacRoman );
+				const char *str = CFStringGetCStringPtr( (CFStringRef)serial, CFStringGetSystemEncoding() );
+				ret = str? str:"";
 				CFRelease( serial );
 			}
 			IOObjectRelease( service );
@@ -339,7 +340,9 @@ RString ArchHooks::GetPreferredLanguage()
 	    (lang = (CFStringRef)CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(languages, 0)) != NULL )
 	{
 		// MacRoman agrees with ASCII in the low-order 7 bits.
-		ret = RString( CFStringGetCStringPtr(lang, kCFStringEncodingMacRoman), 2 );
+		const char *str = CFStringGetCStringPtr( lang, kCFStringEncodingMacRoman );
+		ASSERT( str );
+		ret = RString( str, 2 );
 	}
 	
 	CFRelease( languages );
diff --git a/stepmania/src/archutils/Darwin/HIDDevice.cpp b/stepmania/src/archutils/Darwin/HIDDevice.cpp
index 285f8ffad7..1517a10231 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/archutils/Darwin/HIDDevice.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/archutils/Darwin/HIDDevice.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ bool HIDDevice::Open( io_object_t device )
 	}
 	
 	if( object && CFGetTypeID(object) == CFStringGetTypeID() )
-		m_sDescription = CFStringGetCStringPtr( CFStringRef(object), CFStringGetSystemEncoding() );
+	{
+		const char *str = CFStringGetCStringPtr( CFStringRef(object), CFStringGetSystemEncoding() );
+		m_sDescription = str? str:"";
+	}
 	if( m_sDescription == "" )
 		m_sDescription = ssprintf( "%04x:%04x", vid, pid );