diff --git a/home-manager/fred.nix b/home-manager/fred.nix
index c933891..c1f44df 100644
--- a/home-manager/fred.nix
+++ b/home-manager/fred.nix
@@ -125,9 +125,13 @@ in
       # Public PKCE client, no secret involved, so it's fine in the repo.
       # Redirect URI registered: http://127.0.0.1:8989/login
       client_id = "265506bc7bbd4032bf0fee708b321d3e";
-      # Each notch fires a volume write plus a burst of confirmation polls, so
-      # halve the notches needed to cross the range.
-      volume_scroll_step = 10;
+      # Scroll-to-set-volume is a rate-limit trap: playback runs through a local
+      # librespot softmixer, but the mixer is only set once at session start, so
+      # every later change is a Web API PUT /me/player/volume round-trip (plus
+      # confirmation reads) to adjust a mixer inside our own process. One flick
+      # of the wheel is a dozen requests and a 429. Use PipeWire for volume
+      # instead — same sink, instant, free.
+      enable_mouse_scroll_volume = false;
     };
     # The home-manager module only writes keymap.toml when `keymaps` is
     # non-empty, so `actions` alone would silently emit nothing. Restating a