diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 3970b44..29fe034 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "siteforge",
-  "version": "2.17.0",
+  "version": "2.17.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "siteforge",
-      "version": "2.17.0",
+      "version": "2.17.1",
       "dependencies": {
         "@aws-sdk/client-s3": "^3.1135.0",
         "@dnd-kit/core": "^6.3.1",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1a7835e..129f9f7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "siteforge",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "2.17.0",
+  "version": "2.17.1",
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "vite",
diff --git a/server/routes/nuggets-workflow.js b/server/routes/nuggets-workflow.js
index 22ce471..9241e84 100644
--- a/server/routes/nuggets-workflow.js
+++ b/server/routes/nuggets-workflow.js
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@ import {
 
 const WORKFLOW_FILE = path.join(DATA_DIR, 'nuggets-workflow.json')
 
+const AUDIO_TYPES = {
+  '.mp3': 'audio/mpeg',
+  '.wav': 'audio/wav',
+  '.m4a': 'audio/mp4',
+  '.aac': 'audio/aac',
+  '.ogg': 'audio/ogg',
+  '.flac': 'audio/flac',
+}
+
 export const WORKFLOW_STEPS = ['listen', 'coldOpen', 'recordColdOpen', 'edit', 'spotify']
 
 async function loadWorkflow() {
@@ -100,6 +109,7 @@ export function register(app) {
         { headers: { Authorization: `Token ${SEAFILE_TOKEN}` }, signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10_000) },
       )
       if (!linkRes.ok) {
+        console.error(`[nuggets-workflow] Seafile link lookup for "${filePath}" failed: ${linkRes.status}`)
         res.status(404).json({ message: 'Audio file not found in Seafile.' })
         return
       }
@@ -109,21 +119,26 @@ export function register(app) {
       if (req.headers.range) headers.Range = req.headers.range
       const upstream = await fetch(downloadUrl, { headers })
       if (!upstream.ok && upstream.status !== 206) {
+        console.error(`[nuggets-workflow] Seafile download failed: ${upstream.status}`)
         res.status(502).json({ message: 'Could not fetch audio from Seafile.' })
         return
       }
       res.status(upstream.status)
-      for (const h of ['content-type', 'content-length', 'content-range', 'accept-ranges']) {
+      for (const h of ['content-length', 'content-range', 'accept-ranges']) {
         const v = upstream.headers.get(h)
         if (v) res.setHeader(h, v)
       }
-      if (!upstream.headers.get('content-type')) res.setHeader('content-type', 'audio/mpeg')
+      // Seafile serves downloads as application/octet-stream, which browsers refuse to play
+      // (the site sends nosniff), so set the audio type from the file extension.
+      const ext = path.extname(entry.filename).toLowerCase()
+      res.setHeader('content-type', AUDIO_TYPES[ext] ?? 'audio/mpeg')
+      if (!res.getHeader('accept-ranges')) res.setHeader('accept-ranges', 'bytes')
       const stream = Readable.fromWeb(upstream.body)
       req.on('close', () => stream.destroy())
       stream.on('error', () => res.end())
       stream.pipe(res)
     } catch (err) {
-      console.error('[nuggets-workflow] audio error:', err.message)
+      console.error('[nuggets-workflow] audio error:', err.message, err.cause?.message ?? '')
       if (!res.headersSent) res.status(500).json({ message: 'Audio stream failed.' })
     }
   })
diff --git a/src/AdminPage.tsx b/src/AdminPage.tsx
index f4997e0..29f5cd7 100644
--- a/src/AdminPage.tsx
+++ b/src/AdminPage.tsx
@@ -1751,7 +1751,19 @@ function NuggetsWorkflowAdmin() {
 
                         {s.key === 'listen' && (
                           <div style={{ marginTop: 8 }}>
-                            <audio controls preload="none" style={{ width: '100%' }} src={`/api/admin/nuggets-workflow/${selected.id}/audio`} />
+                            <audio
+                              key={selected.id}
+                              controls
+                              preload="none"
+                              style={{ width: '100%' }}
+                              src={`/api/admin/nuggets-workflow/${selected.id}/audio`}
+                              onError={async () => {
+                                const r = await fetch(`/api/admin/nuggets-workflow/${selected.id}/audio`, { headers: { Range: 'bytes=0-0' } }).catch(() => null)
+                                if (!r) setError('Audio request failed (network).')
+                                else if (r.ok) setError('The server sent the audio but the browser could not play it. The file may be in an unsupported format.')
+                                else setError(`Audio unavailable (${r.status}): ${(await r.json().catch(() => ({}))).message ?? 'unknown error'}`)
+                              }}
+                            />
                           </div>
                         )}
                         {s.key === 'coldOpen' && (