diff --git a/src/mu-util.c b/src/mu-util.c
index 9fae4ad2..a61c6553 100644
--- a/src/mu-util.c
+++ b/src/mu-util.c
@@ -303,7 +303,23 @@ mu_util_create_writeable_fd (const char* path, mode_t mode,
 
 
 gboolean
-mu_util_play (const char *path)
+mu_util_is_local_file (const char* path)
+{
+	/* if it starts with file:// it's a local file (for the
+	 * purposes of this function -- if it's on a remote FS it's
+	 * still considered local) */
+	if (g_ascii_strncasecmp ("file://", path, strlen("file://")) == 0)
+		return TRUE;
+	
+	if (access (path, R_OK) == 0)
+		return TRUE;
+
+	return FALSE; 
+}
+
+
+gboolean
+mu_util_play (const char *path, gboolean allow_local, gboolean allow_remote)
 {
 #ifndef XDGOPEN
 	g_warning ("opening files not supported (xdg-open missing)");
@@ -314,8 +330,10 @@ mu_util_play (const char *path)
 	const gchar *argv[3];
 	
 	g_return_val_if_fail (path, FALSE);
-	g_return_val_if_fail (access (path, R_OK) == 0, FALSE);
-
+	g_return_val_if_fail (mu_util_is_local_file (path) || allow_remote,
+			      FALSE);
+	g_return_val_if_fail (!mu_util_is_local_file (path) || allow_local,
+			      FALSE);
 	argv[0] = XDGOPEN;
 	argv[1] = path;
 	argv[2] = NULL;
diff --git a/src/mu-util.h b/src/mu-util.h
index 1978bb80..195d978f 100644
--- a/src/mu-util.h
+++ b/src/mu-util.h
@@ -120,15 +120,29 @@ int mu_util_create_writeable_fd (const char* path, mode_t mode,
     G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
 
-/** 
+
+/**
+ * check if file is local, ie. on the local file system. this means
+ * that it's either having a file URI, *or* that it's an existing file
+ * 
+ * @param path a path
+ * 
+ * @return TRUE if the file is local, FALSE otherwise
+ */
+gboolean mu_util_is_local_file (const char* path);
+
+/**
  * try to 'play' (ie., open with it's associated program) a
  * file. depends on xdg-open to do the actual opening
  * 
  * @param path full path of the file to open
+ * @param allow_local allow local files (ie. with file:// prefix or fs paths)
+ * @param allow_remote allow URIs (ie., http, mailto)
  * 
  * @return TRUE if it succeeded, FALSE otherwise
  */
-gboolean mu_util_play (const char *path);
+gboolean mu_util_play (const char *path,
+		       gboolean allow_local, gboolean allow_remote);
 
 
 /**