diff --git a/split2flac b/split2flac
index f0a9ed2..b7c008c 100755
--- a/split2flac
+++ b/split2flac
@@ -275,6 +275,22 @@ update_pattern () {
 	update_pattern_aux "$v" "_${tag_name}" $(echo "${tag_value}" | sed "s/ /_/g")
 }
 
+check_cuetools () {
+	if ! which cuebreakpoints 2>/dev/null ; then
+		emsg "'cuebreakpoints' tool was not found, "
+		emsg "you should install 'cuetools' package\n"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+}
+
+check_shntool () {
+	if ! which shnsplit 2>/dev/null ; then
+		emsg "'shnsplit' tool was not found, "
+		emsg "you should install 'shntool' package\n"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+}
+
 # splits a file
 split_file () {
 	TMPCUE="${HOME}/.split2flac_XXXXX.cue"
@@ -423,6 +439,8 @@ split_file () {
 	TAG_ALBUM=$(${GETTAG} %T "${CUE}" 2>/dev/null)
 	TRACKS_NUM=$(${GETTAG} %N "${CUE}" 2>/dev/null)
 
+	check_cuetools
+
 	# some cue sheets may have non-audio tracks
 	# we can check the difference between what cuebreakpoints and cueprint gives us
 	BREAKPOINTS_NUM=$(($(cuebreakpoints "${CUE}" 2>/dev/null | wc -l) + 1))
@@ -502,6 +520,8 @@ split_file () {
 			*)	  emsg "Unknown output format ${FORMAT}\n"; exit 1;;
 		esac
 
+		check_shntool
+
 		# split to tracks
 		# sed expression is a fix for "shnsplit: error: m:ss.ff format can only be used with CD-quality files"
 		cuebreakpoints "${CUE}" 2>/dev/null | \