diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 3ea5c08c..cd8ab509 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ---version 2.0.4 yet to be released---
+28-mar-2009 - shinydoofy - sdl - fix fm2 playback and fcm->fm2 conversion crash at the cost of ugly 0x00 bytes behind the author's comment line
 28-mar-2009 - adelikat - Lua - added FCEU.poweron() and FCEU.softreset()
 27-mar-2009 - shinydoofy - sdl - added --no-config
 23-mar-2009 - adelikat - Win32 - blocked "hotkey explosion" by rshift on some laptops
diff --git a/src/utils/xstring.cpp b/src/utils/xstring.cpp
index 363bf564..6b138914 100644
--- a/src/utils/xstring.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/xstring.cpp
@@ -585,38 +585,35 @@ namespace UtfConverter
         size_t widesize = utf8string.length();
         if (sizeof(wchar_t) == 2)
         {
-            wchar_t* widestringnative = new wchar_t[widesize+1];
+            std::wstring resultstring;
+            resultstring.resize(widesize+1, L'\0');
             const UTF8* sourcestart = reinterpret_cast<const UTF8*>(utf8string.c_str());
             const UTF8* sourceend = sourcestart + widesize;
-            UTF16* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF16*>(widestringnative);
-            UTF16* targetend = targetstart + widesize+1;
+            UTF16* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF16*>(&resultstring[0]);
+            UTF16* targetend = targetstart + widesize;
             ConversionResult res = ConvertUTF8toUTF16(&sourcestart, sourceend, &targetstart, targetend, strictConversion);
             if (res != conversionOK)
             {
-                delete [] widestringnative;
                 throw std::exception();
             }
             *targetstart = 0;
-            std::wstring resultstring(widestringnative);
-            delete [] widestringnative;
             return resultstring;
         }
         else if (sizeof(wchar_t) == 4)
         {
-            wchar_t* widestringnative = new wchar_t[widesize];
+            std::wstring resultstring;
+            resultstring.resize(widesize+1, L'\0');
             const UTF8* sourcestart = reinterpret_cast<const UTF8*>(utf8string.c_str());
             const UTF8* sourceend = sourcestart + widesize;
-            UTF32* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF32*>(widestringnative);
+            UTF32* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF32*>(&resultstring[0]);
             UTF32* targetend = targetstart + widesize;
             ConversionResult res = ConvertUTF8toUTF32(&sourcestart, sourceend, &targetstart, targetend, strictConversion);
             if (res != conversionOK)
             {
-                delete [] widestringnative;
                 throw std::exception();
             }
             *targetstart = 0;
-            std::wstring resultstring(widestringnative);
-            delete [] widestringnative;
+            resultstring = resultstring.substr(0, 23);
             return resultstring;
         }
         else
@@ -633,39 +630,35 @@ namespace UtfConverter
         if (sizeof(wchar_t) == 2)
         {
             size_t utf8size = 3 * widesize + 1;
-            char* utf8stringnative = new char[utf8size];
+            std::string resultstring;
+            resultstring.resize(utf8size, '\0');
             const UTF16* sourcestart = reinterpret_cast<const UTF16*>(widestring.c_str());
             const UTF16* sourceend = sourcestart + widesize;
-            UTF8* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF8*>(utf8stringnative);
+            UTF8* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF8*>(&resultstring[0]);
             UTF8* targetend = targetstart + utf8size;
             ConversionResult res = ConvertUTF16toUTF8(&sourcestart, sourceend, &targetstart, targetend, strictConversion);
             if (res != conversionOK)
             {
-                delete [] utf8stringnative;
                 throw std::exception();
             }
             *targetstart = 0;
-            std::string resultstring(utf8stringnative);
-            delete [] utf8stringnative;
             return resultstring;
         }
         else if (sizeof(wchar_t) == 4)
         {
             size_t utf8size = 4 * widesize + 1;
-            char* utf8stringnative = new char[utf8size];
+            std::string resultstring;
+            resultstring.resize(utf8size, '\0');
             const UTF32* sourcestart = reinterpret_cast<const UTF32*>(widestring.c_str());
             const UTF32* sourceend = sourcestart + widesize;
-            UTF8* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF8*>(utf8stringnative);
+            UTF8* targetstart = reinterpret_cast<UTF8*>(&resultstring[0]);
             UTF8* targetend = targetstart + utf8size;
             ConversionResult res = ConvertUTF32toUTF8(&sourcestart, sourceend, &targetstart, targetend, strictConversion);
             if (res != conversionOK)
             {
-                delete [] utf8stringnative;
                 throw std::exception();
             }
             *targetstart = 0;
-            std::string resultstring(utf8stringnative);
-            delete [] utf8stringnative;
             return resultstring;
         }
         else
@@ -705,4 +698,4 @@ std::string getExtension(const char* input) {
 	for(k=0;k<extlen;k++)
 		ext[k]=tolower(ext[k]);
 	return ext;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}