--- a/include/poddlthread.h	
+++ a/include/poddlthread.h	
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ 
 
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <time.h>
+#include <memory>
 
 #include <configcontainer.h>
 
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ class poddlthread {
 	private:
 		void mkdir_p(const char * file);
 		download * dl;
-		std::ofstream *f;
+		std::shared_ptr<std::ofstream> f;
 		timeval tv1;
 		timeval tv2;
 		size_t bytecount;
--- a/src/pb_controller.cpp	
+++ a/src/pb_controller.cpp	
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ void pb_controller::start_downloads() {
 		if (it->status() == DL_QUEUED) {
 			std::thread t {poddlthread(&(*it), cfg)};
 			--dl2start;
+			t.detach();
 		}
 	}
 }
--- a/src/pb_view.cpp	
+++ a/src/pb_view.cpp	
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ void pb_view::run(bool auto_download) {
 			if (idx != -1) {
 				if (ctrl->downloads()[idx].status() != DL_DOWNLOADING) {
 					std::thread t {poddlthread(&ctrl->downloads()[idx], ctrl->get_cfgcont())};
+					t.detach();
 				}
 			}
 		}
--- a/src/poddlthread.cpp	
+++ a/src/poddlthread.cpp	
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ poddlthread::poddlthread(download * dl_, newsbeuter::configcontainer * c) : dl(d
 }
 
 poddlthread::~poddlthread() {
-	delete f;
 }
 
 void poddlthread::operator()() {