diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6f2c10e43b..05070b9089 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2007-11-03  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* ext/alsa/gstalsasink.c: (gst_alsasink_open):
+	* ext/alsa/gstalsasrc.c: (gst_alsasrc_open):
+	  'Could not open resource for writing' is not an acceptable
+	  error message when we can't open the audio device (see #492334),
+	  even less so when we're trying to open it to record something.
+
 2007-11-02  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
 
 	Patch by: Ole André Vadla Ravnås  <ole.andre.ravnas@tandberg.com>
diff --git a/ext/alsa/gstalsasink.c b/ext/alsa/gstalsasink.c
index 24a5ffe8ee..ce6a152f92 100644
--- a/ext/alsa/gstalsasink.c
+++ b/ext/alsa/gstalsasink.c
@@ -645,11 +645,14 @@ gst_alsasink_open (GstAudioSink * asink)
 open_error:
   {
     if (err == -EBUSY) {
-      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, BUSY, (NULL), ("Device '%s' is busy",
-              alsa->device));
+      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, BUSY,
+          (_("Could not open audio device for playback. "
+                  "Device is being used by another application.")),
+          ("Device '%s' is busy", alsa->device));
     } else {
       GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, OPEN_WRITE,
-          (NULL), ("Playback open error on device '%s': %s", alsa->device,
+          (_("Could not open audio device for playback.")),
+          ("Playback open error on device '%s': %s", alsa->device,
               snd_strerror (err)));
     }
     return FALSE;
diff --git a/ext/alsa/gstalsasrc.c b/ext/alsa/gstalsasrc.c
index 70baed404a..e851001b44 100644
--- a/ext/alsa/gstalsasrc.c
+++ b/ext/alsa/gstalsasrc.c
@@ -622,11 +622,14 @@ gst_alsasrc_open (GstAudioSrc * asrc)
 open_error:
   {
     if (err == -EBUSY) {
-      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, BUSY, (NULL), ("Device '%s' is busy",
-              alsa->device));
+      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, BUSY,
+          (_("Could not open audio device for recording. "
+                  "Device is being used by another application.")),
+          ("Device '%s' is busy", alsa->device));
     } else {
-      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, OPEN_WRITE,
-          (NULL), ("Recording open error on device '%s': %s", alsa->device,
+      GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (alsa, RESOURCE, OPEN_READ,
+          (_("Could not open audio device for recording.")),
+          ("Recording open error on device '%s': %s", alsa->device,
               snd_strerror (err)));
     }
     return FALSE;