diff --git a/src/playbin.vala b/src/playbin.vala
index 941ddb2..4a836f7 100644
--- a/src/playbin.vala
+++ b/src/playbin.vala
@@ -182,8 +182,12 @@ public class Playbin : GLib.Object {
     }
 
     public void seek (double position) {
-        this.position = position;
-        assert (this.mpv.command ({"seek", position.to_string (), "absolute"}) >= 0);
+        var rc = this.mpv.command ({"seek", position.to_string (), "absolute"});
+        if (rc < 0) {
+            warning (@"could not seek to $position: $rc");
+        } else {
+            this.position = position;
+        }
     }
 
     // manually changes which track in the play queue to play