diff --git a/picard/formats/__init__.py b/picard/formats/__init__.py
index d36ade58c..e8e410cff 100644
--- a/picard/formats/__init__.py
+++ b/picard/formats/__init__.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def open_(filename):
         # None is returned if both the methods fail
         return None
     except Exception as error:
-        log.error("Error occured:\n{}".format(error.message))
+        log.error("Error occured:\n{}".format(error))
         return None
 
 
diff --git a/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py b/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
index 7b4fd1426..e320a5658 100644
--- a/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
+++ b/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class TAK(APEv2File):
     _mimes = ["audio/x-tak"]
 
     def score(filename, fileobj, header):
-        return header.startswith("tBaK") + filename.lower().endswith(".tak")
+        return header.startswith(b"tBaK") + filename.lower().endswith(".tak")
     score = staticmethod(score)
 
 Open = TAK