diff --git a/app/controllers/albums_controller.rb b/app/controllers/albums_controller.rb
index 862d603..3912457 100644
--- a/app/controllers/albums_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/albums_controller.rb
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ class AlbumsController < ApplicationController
     @album = Album.new(params[:album])
     @album.path = @album.title
     if @album.save
-      if params[:collection_id]
+      unless params[:collection_id].empty?
+        puts "has params"
         @album.collections << Collection.find( params[:collection_id] )
       end
       flash[:notice] = "Album created!"
diff --git a/app/models/album.rb b/app/models/album.rb
index fe83a13..3aeceef 100644
--- a/app/models/album.rb
+++ b/app/models/album.rb
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ class Album < ActiveRecord::Base
   
   def create_folders
     Dir.mkdir( APP_CONFIG[:photos_path] + self.path ) unless File.exists?( APP_CONFIG[:photos_path] + self.path )
-    Dir.mkdir( APP_CONFIG[:thumbs_path] + self.path ) unless File.exists?( APP_CONFIG[:thumbs_path] + self.path ) 
+    Dir.mkdir( APP_CONFIG[:thumbs_path] + self.path.encode("ASCII-8BIT") ) unless File.exists?( APP_CONFIG[:thumbs_path] + self.path )
   end
   
   def destroy_folders