diff --git a/home-manager/fred.nix b/home-manager/fred.nix
index df36402..f5fdb37 100644
--- a/home-manager/fred.nix
+++ b/home-manager/fred.nix
@@ -88,10 +88,23 @@ in
   };
 
   # Upstream ships no .desktop file (TUI only), so the launcher can't find it.
+  # The launcher also force-connects to our own librespot device: upstream only
+  # auto-connects when *no* playback exists anywhere on the account
+  # (client/mod.rs `initialize_playback` bails out when playback.is_some()), so
+  # a phone or web player still holding a paused playback means we'd otherwise
+  # have to pick the device by hand every launch. Retry because the device takes
+  # a few seconds to register with Spotify.
   xdg.desktopEntries.spotify-player = lib.mkIf isDesktop {
     name = "Spotify Player";
     genericName = "Music Player";
-    exec = "ghostty --title=spotify-player -e spotify_player";
+    exec = "ghostty --title=spotify-player -e ${pkgs.writeShellScript "spotify-player-connected" ''
+      sp=${config.programs.spotify-player.package}/bin/spotify_player
+      for _ in $(seq 15); do
+        sleep 2
+        "$sp" connect --name spotify-player && break
+      done &
+      exec "$sp"
+    ''}";
     icon = "spotify";
     terminal = false;
     categories = [ "Audio" "Music" "Player" "AudioVideo" ];