diff --git a/src/cache.c b/src/cache.c
index 0d2c1fc..03c140f 100644
--- a/src/cache.c
+++ b/src/cache.c
@@ -520,10 +520,15 @@ static void Cache_free(Cache *cf)
     if (cf->path) {
         free(cf->path);
     }
+
     if (cf->seg) {
         free(cf->seg);
     }
 
+    if (cf->fs_path) {
+        free(cf->fs_path);
+    }
+
     free(cf);
 }
 
@@ -664,8 +669,10 @@ static int Meta_create(Cache *cf)
     return 0;
 }
 
-int Cache_create(Link *this_link)
+int Cache_create(const char *path)
 {
+    Link *this_link = path_to_Link(path);
+
     char *fn;
     if (!CONFIG.sonic_mode) {
         fn = curl_easy_unescape(NULL, this_link->f_url + ROOT_LINK_OFFSET, 0,
@@ -732,21 +739,10 @@ Cache *Cache_open(const char *fn)
     /* Obtain the link structure memory pointer */
     Link *link = path_to_Link(fn);
     if (!link) {
+        /* There is no associated link to the path */
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    /* Check if both metadata and data file exist */
-    if (!CONFIG.sonic_mode) {
-        if (!Cache_exist(fn)) {
-            return NULL;
-        }
-    } else {
-        if (!Cache_exist(link->sonic_id_str)) {
-            return NULL;
-        }
-        fn = link->sonic_id_str;
-    }
-
     /*---------------- Cache_open() critical section -----------------*/
 
     #ifdef CACHE_LOCK_DEBUG
@@ -772,8 +768,28 @@ Cache *Cache_open(const char *fn)
     PTHREAD_MUTEX_UNLOCK(&cf_lock);
     /*----------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
+    /* Check if both metadata and data file exist */
+    if (!CONFIG.sonic_mode) {
+        if (!Cache_exist(fn)) {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    } else {
+        if (!Cache_exist(link->sonic_id_str)) {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
     /* Create the cache in-memory data structure */
     Cache *cf = Cache_alloc();
+
+    if (CONFIG.sonic_mode) {
+        /* Fill in the fs_path */
+        cf->fs_path = calloc(MAX_PATH_LEN + 1, sizeof(char));
+        strncpy(cf->fs_path, fn, MAX_PATH_LEN);
+        /* Set the path for the local cache file */
+        fn = link->sonic_id_str;
+    }
+
     cf->path = strndup(fn, MAX_PATH_LEN);
 
     /* Associate the cache structure with a link */
@@ -923,8 +939,14 @@ static void *Cache_bgdl(void *arg)
     PTHREAD_MUTEX_LOCK(&cf->w_lock);
     uint8_t *recv_buf = CALLOC(cf->blksz, sizeof(uint8_t));
     fprintf(stderr, "Cache_bgdl(): thread %lu: ", pthread_self());
-    long recv = path_download(cf->path, (char *) recv_buf, cf->blksz,
+    long recv = path_download(cf->fs_path, (char *) recv_buf, cf->blksz,
                               cf->next_dl_offset);
+    if (recv < 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "\nCache_bgdl(): received %lu bytes, \
+which does't make sense\n", recv);
+        exit_failure();
+    }
+
     if ( (recv == cf->blksz) ||
         (cf->next_dl_offset == (cf->content_length / cf->blksz * cf->blksz)) )
     {
@@ -964,7 +986,7 @@ long Cache_read(Cache *cf,  char * const output_buf, const off_t len,
     } else {
         /* Wait for any other download thread to finish*/
         #ifdef CACHE_LOCK_DEBUG
-        fprintf(stderr, "Cache_read(): thread %lu: locking w_lock;\n",
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cache_read(): thread %ld: locking w_lock;\n",
                 pthread_self());
         #endif
         PTHREAD_MUTEX_LOCK(&cf->w_lock);
@@ -985,8 +1007,14 @@ long Cache_read(Cache *cf,  char * const output_buf, const off_t len,
 
     uint8_t *recv_buf = CALLOC(cf->blksz, sizeof(uint8_t));
     fprintf(stderr, "Cache_read(): thread %lu: ", pthread_self());
-    long recv = path_download(cf->path, (char *) recv_buf, cf->blksz,
+    fprintf(stderr, "cf->fs_path: %s\n", cf->fs_path);
+    long recv = path_download(cf->fs_path, (char *) recv_buf, cf->blksz,
                                 dl_offset);
+    if (recv < 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "\nCache_read(): received %ld bytes, \
+which does't make sense\n", recv);
+        exit_failure();
+    }
     /*
      * check if we have received enough data, write it to the disk
      *
diff --git a/src/cache.h b/src/cache.h
index 53d6d55..36ff667 100644
--- a/src/cache.h
+++ b/src/cache.h
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@ typedef uint8_t Seg;
  * \brief cache data type in-memory data structure
  */
 struct Cache {
-    /** \brief The FILE pointer for the data file*/
+    /** \brief the FILE pointer for the data file*/
     FILE *dfp;
-    /** \brief The FILE pointer for the metadata */
+    /** \brief the FILE pointer for the metadata */
     FILE *mfp;
-    /** \brief the path to the file on the web server */
+    /** \brief the path to the local cache file */
     char *path;
     /** \brief the Link associated with this cache data set */
     Link *link;
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ struct Cache {
     pthread_mutexattr_t bgt_lock_attr;
     /** \brief the offset of the next segment to be downloaded in background*/
     off_t next_dl_offset;
+
+    /** \brief the FUSE filesystem path to the remote file*/
+    char *fs_path;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -116,7 +119,7 @@ void Cache_close(Cache *cf);
  *  -   -1, otherwise
  * \note Called by fs_open()
  */
-int Cache_create(Link *this_link);
+int Cache_create(const char *path);
 
 /**
  * \brief delete a cache file set
diff --git a/src/fuse_local.c b/src/fuse_local.c
index 26bfc27..0ef4cd3 100644
--- a/src/fuse_local.c
+++ b/src/fuse_local.c
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ static int fs_open(const char *path, struct fuse_file_info *fi)
              * cache creation
              */
             Cache_delete(path);
-            Cache_create(link);
+            Cache_create(path);
             fi->fh = (uint64_t) Cache_open(path);
             /*
              * The cache definitely cannot be opened for some reason.
diff --git a/src/link.c b/src/link.c
index 3f057be..e3403c9 100644
--- a/src/link.c
+++ b/src/link.c
@@ -677,6 +677,10 @@ Link *path_to_Link(const char *path)
 long path_download(const char *path, char *output_buf, size_t size,
                    off_t offset)
 {
+    if (!path) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "\npath_download(): NULL path supplied\n");
+        exit_failure();
+    }
     Link *link;
     link = path_to_Link(path);
     if (!link) {
@@ -746,5 +750,6 @@ range requests\n");
     memmove(output_buf, buf.data, recv);
     curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
     free(buf.data);
+
     return recv;
 }
diff --git a/src/link.h b/src/link.h
index 2971b04..39936e4 100644
--- a/src/link.h
+++ b/src/link.h
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ struct Link {
     /**
      * \brief Sonic Music Directory ID in string format
      */
-    char sonic_id_str[MAX_FILENAME_LEN+1];
+    char *sonic_id_str;
 };
 
 struct LinkTable {
diff --git a/src/sonic.c b/src/sonic.c
index 8f2710c..7fa5398 100644
--- a/src/sonic.c
+++ b/src/sonic.c
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ static void XMLCALL XML_process_single_element(void *data, const char *elem,
     for (int i = 0; attr[i]; i += 2) {
         if (!strcmp("id", attr[i])) {
             link->sonic_id = atoi(attr[i+1]);
+            link->sonic_id_str = calloc(MAX_FILENAME_LEN, sizeof(char));
             snprintf(link->sonic_id_str, MAX_FILENAME_LEN, "%d",
                      link->sonic_id);
             id_set = 1;