diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2ffdc63..3c3629e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
-keys.mine.js
-*~
+node_modules
diff --git a/.npmignore b/.npmignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c3629e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.npmignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+node_modules
diff --git a/lib/simpledb.js b/lib/simpledb.js
index 965aa7b..aef7ddc 100644
--- a/lib/simpledb.js
+++ b/lib/simpledb.js
@@ -214,14 +214,24 @@ exports.SimpleDB = function(opts,logger) {
 
 
   function getattrs(out,attrs,asarrays) {
+    
     attrs.forEach(function(attr){
-      var n = out[attr.Name]
-
+      var n = out[attr.Name],
+          val = attr.Value;
+          
+      if (typeof val === 'object') {
+          if (val['@'] && val['@'].encoding === 'base64') { // Check for base64 encoding
+            val = new Buffer(val['#'], 'base64').toString('utf8');
+          } else { // The XML parser returns empty strings as val = {}
+            val = '';
+          }
+      }
+      
       if( asarrays ) {
-        (out[attr.Name] = n?n:[]).push(attr.Value)
+        (out[attr.Name] = n?n:[]).push(val)
       }
       else {
-        out[attr.Name] = (n?n+',':'') + attr.Value
+        out[attr.Name] = (n?n+',':'') + val
       }
     })
   }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fed2294..7c73c80 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     "John Roberts <jroberts@logitech.com>"
   ],
   "dependencies": {
-      "aws-lib": ">0.0.1"
+      "aws-lib": "git://github.com/livelycode/aws-lib.git#46b88355d6c2117447c4c4b0252aa7a4953ad74e"
   },
   "main": "lib/simpledb",
   "directories": {
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@
   "engines": {
     "node": "*"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}