diff --git a/beets/ui/commands.py b/beets/ui/commands.py
index 6bd015576..359549227 100755
--- a/beets/ui/commands.py
+++ b/beets/ui/commands.py
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ def _do_query(lib, query, album, also_items=True):
 def _showdiff(field, oldval, newval, color):
     """Prints out a human-readable field difference line."""
     if newval != oldval:
+        oldval = unicode(newval)
+        newval = unicode(newval)
         if color:
             oldval, newval = ui.colordiff(oldval, newval)
         print_(u'  %s: %s -> %s' % (field, oldval, newval))
diff --git a/test/test_ui.py b/test/test_ui.py
index 6b56046bd..1bf6c5049 100644
--- a/test/test_ui.py
+++ b/test/test_ui.py
@@ -502,6 +502,28 @@ class ConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
                 library: /xxx/yyy/not/a/real/path
             """), func)
 
+class UtilTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.io = _common.DummyIO()
+        self.io.install()
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.io.restore()
+
+    def test_showdiff_strings(self):
+        commands._showdiff('field', 'old', 'new', True)
+        out = self.io.getoutput()
+        self.assertTrue('field' in out)
+
+    def test_showdiff_identical(self):
+        commands._showdiff('field', 'old', 'old', True)
+        out = self.io.getoutput()
+        self.assertFalse('field' in out)
+
+    def test_showdiff_ints(self):
+        commands._showdiff('field', 2, 3, True)
+        out = self.io.getoutput()
+        self.assertTrue('field' in out)
+
 def suite():
     return unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromName(__name__)