diff --git a/beets/ui/__init__.py b/beets/ui/__init__.py
index 152a2d6a1..dff2fb48c 100644
--- a/beets/ui/__init__.py
+++ b/beets/ui/__init__.py
@@ -664,8 +664,8 @@ def _raw_main(args, configfh):
             config['library'].get(confit.as_filename),
             config['directory'].get(confit.as_filename),
             config['paths'].get(dict),  # FIXME
-            config['art_filename'].get(basestring),
-            config['timeout'].get(float),  # FIXME int okay
+            config['art_filename'].get(unicode),
+            config['timeout'].get(confit.as_number),
             config['replace'].get(dict),
         )
     except sqlite3.OperationalError:
diff --git a/beets/ui/commands.py b/beets/ui/commands.py
index c27f2223c..65fe75fb0 100644
--- a/beets/ui/commands.py
+++ b/beets/ui/commands.py
@@ -840,9 +840,9 @@ def list_func(lib, config, opts, args):
     if not fmt:
         # If no format is specified, fall back to a default.
         if opts.album:
-            fmt = config['list_format_album'].get(basestring)
+            fmt = config['list_format_album'].get(unicode)
         else:
-            fmt = config['list_format_item'].get(basestring)
+            fmt = config['list_format_item'].get(unicode)
     list_items(lib, decargs(args), opts.album, opts.path, fmt)
 list_cmd.func = list_func
 default_commands.append(list_cmd)
diff --git a/beets/util/confit.py b/beets/util/confit.py
index 147e4908b..c66355147 100644
--- a/beets/util/confit.py
+++ b/beets/util/confit.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ DEFAULT_FILENAME = 'config_default.yaml'
 
 PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3
 STRING = str if PY3 else unicode
+NUMERIC_TYPES = [int, float] if PY3 else [int, float, long]
 
 def iter_first(sequence):
     """Get the first element from an iterable or raise a ValueError if
@@ -126,8 +127,8 @@ class ConfigView(object):
             # Check type of value.
             if not isinstance(value, typ):
                 raise ConfigTypeError(
-                    "{0} must by of type {1}, not {2}".format(
-                        self.name, typ, type(value)
+                    "{0} must be of type {1}, not {2}".format(
+                        self.name, typ.__name__, type(value).__name__
                     )
                 )
 
@@ -190,8 +191,11 @@ class ConfigView(object):
             try:
                 cur_keys = dic.keys()
             except AttributeError:
-                raise ConfigTypeError('%s must be a dict, not %s' %
-                                      (self.name, STRING(type(dic))))
+                raise ConfigTypeError(
+                    '{0} must be a dict, not {1}'.format(
+                        self.name, type(dic).__name__
+                    )
+                )
             keys.update(cur_keys)
         return keys
 
@@ -224,8 +228,11 @@ class ConfigView(object):
             try:
                 it = iter(collection)
             except TypeError:
-                raise ConfigTypeError('%s must be an iterable, not %s' %
-                                      (self.name, STRING(type(collection))))
+                raise ConfigTypeError(
+                    '{0} must be an iterable, not {1}'.format(
+                        self.name, type(collection).__name__
+                    )
+                )
             for value in it:
                 yield value
 
@@ -275,9 +282,11 @@ class Subview(ConfigView):
                 continue
             except TypeError:
                 # Not subscriptable.
-                raise ConfigTypeError("%s must be a collection, not %s" %
-                                      (self.parent.name,
-                                       STRING(type(collection))))
+                raise ConfigTypeError(
+                    "{0} must be a collection, not {1}".format(
+                        self.parent.name, type(collection).__name__
+                    )
+                )
             yield value
 
     @property
@@ -358,6 +367,38 @@ def as_choice(choices):
         return value
     return f
 
+def as_number(view, value):
+    """Ensure that a value is of numeric type."""
+    for typ in NUMERIC_TYPES:
+        if isinstance(value, typ):
+            return value
+    raise ConfigTypeError(
+        '{0} must be numeric, not {1}'.format(
+            view.name, type(value).__name__
+        )
+    )
+
+
+# YAML.
+
+class Loader(yaml.SafeLoader):
+    """A customized YAML safe loader that reads all strings as Unicode
+    objects.
+    """
+    def _construct_unicode(self, node):
+        return self.construct_scalar(node)
+Loader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:str', Loader._construct_unicode)
+
+def load_yaml(filename):
+    """Read a YAML document from a file. If the file cannot be read or
+    parsed, a ConfigReadError is raised.
+    """
+    try:
+        with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+            return yaml.load(f, Loader=Loader)
+    except (IOError, yaml.error.YAMLError) as exc:
+        raise ConfigReadError(filename, exc)
+
 
 # Main interface.
 
@@ -416,12 +457,7 @@ class Configuration(RootView):
         """
         self.sources = []
         for filename in self._filenames():
-            try:
-                with open(filename, 'r') as f:
-                    data = yaml.load(f)
-            except (IOError, yaml.error.YAMLError) as exc:
-                raise ConfigReadError(filename, exc)
-            self.sources.append(data)
+            self.sources.append(load_yaml(filename))
 
     def add_args(self, namespace):
         """Add parsed command-line arguments, generated by a library