diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/player/audio_handler.dart b/flutter_client/lib/player/audio_handler.dart
index 82d80252..5a432e4b 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/player/audio_handler.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/player/audio_handler.dart
@@ -76,6 +76,24 @@ class MinstrelAudioHandler extends BaseAudioHandler with QueueHandler, SeekHandl
   /// need this. Active only while playing; cancelled otherwise.
   Timer? _positionBroadcastTimer;
 
+  /// Buffering-stall watchdog. On poor coverage a stream hangs in
+  /// ProcessingState.buffering with NO error event, so the onError
+  /// recovery never fires. Armed while playing+buffering; on fire, if
+  /// buffered position hasn't advanced it's a dead stream → recover.
+  /// Re-arms a fresh window while buffering-but-progressing (slow-but-
+  /// downloading is not a stall).
+  static const _stallTimeout = Duration(seconds: 15);
+  Timer? _stallTimer;
+  Duration _stallMarkBuffered = Duration.zero;
+
+  /// Per-track recovery budget. Reset when a track reaches
+  /// ready+playing. One retry of the same source (rebuilt fresh), then
+  /// skip to the next cached track (or pause) instead of thrashing
+  /// through unreachable streams.
+  static const _maxRecoverRetries = 1;
+  String? _recoveringTrackId;
+  int _recoverAttempts = 0;
+
   /// Player volume captured when an OS duck interruption begins,
   /// restored when it ends. Null when not currently ducked.
   double? _volumeBeforeDuck;
@@ -492,33 +510,12 @@ class MinstrelAudioHandler extends BaseAudioHandler with QueueHandler, SeekHandl
   ///
   /// If we're at the last track, seekToNext is a no-op; the state
   /// drops to idle and _broadcastState reflects that.
+  /// onError entrypoint (404 / decoder / premature EOS / network drop).
+  /// Routes into the unified recovery path (retry the track once, then
+  /// skip to the next cached track or pause) instead of immediately
+  /// skipping the literal next — possibly also-unreachable — source.
   Future<void> _handlePlaybackError() async {
-    // mediaItem is the correctly-mapped current track (post #49 logical
-    // index), so it's the one that just failed — no player-index math.
-    final failed = mediaItem.value?.title;
-    if (failed != null && failed.isNotEmpty) {
-      _playbackErrors.add(failed);
-    }
-    final currentIdx = _player.currentIndex;
-    final queueLen = queue.value.length;
-    if (currentIdx == null || currentIdx + 1 >= queueLen) {
-      // Last track or no queue context — just pause; _broadcastState
-      // already reflects the idle/error processingState.
-      try {
-        await _player.pause();
-      } catch (_) {}
-      return;
-    }
-    try {
-      await _player.seekToNext();
-    } catch (_) {
-      // If seekToNext fails too (next source not built yet, etc.),
-      // there's nothing safe to do — pause and let the user recover
-      // manually.
-      try {
-        await _player.pause();
-      } catch (_) {}
-    }
+    await _recoverPlayback();
   }
 
   void _onCurrentIndexChanged(int? idx) {
@@ -573,6 +570,8 @@ class MinstrelAudioHandler extends BaseAudioHandler with QueueHandler, SeekHandl
     _idleStopTimer = null;
     _positionBroadcastTimer?.cancel();
     _positionBroadcastTimer = null;
+    _stallTimer?.cancel();
+    _stallTimer = null;
     try {
       await _player.stop();
     } catch (_) {}
@@ -786,6 +785,7 @@ class MinstrelAudioHandler extends BaseAudioHandler with QueueHandler, SeekHandl
     ));
     _reconcileIdleTimer();
     _reconcilePositionBroadcast();
+    _reconcileStallWatchdog();
   }
 
   /// Arms (or cancels) the idle-cleanup timer based on the current
@@ -842,6 +842,96 @@ class MinstrelAudioHandler extends BaseAudioHandler with QueueHandler, SeekHandl
     );
   }
 
+  /// Buffering-stall watchdog. Armed while playing+buffering/loading.
+  /// On fire: still stuck with no >=1s buffered progress → dead stream,
+  /// recover; progressing → re-arm a fresh window (slow-but-downloading
+  /// is fine). When the track is happily ready+playing, clears the
+  /// per-track recovery budget. Driven from _broadcastState; mirrors
+  /// the other reconcile helpers.
+  void _reconcileStallWatchdog() {
+    final ps = _player.processingState;
+    if (ps == ProcessingState.ready && _player.playing) {
+      _recoveringTrackId = null;
+      _recoverAttempts = 0;
+    }
+    final buffering = _player.playing &&
+        (ps == ProcessingState.buffering || ps == ProcessingState.loading);
+    if (!buffering) {
+      _stallTimer?.cancel();
+      _stallTimer = null;
+      return;
+    }
+    if (_stallTimer != null) return; // window already running
+    _stallMarkBuffered = _player.bufferedPosition;
+    _stallTimer = Timer(_stallTimeout, () {
+      _stallTimer = null;
+      final ps2 = _player.processingState;
+      final stillBuffering = _player.playing &&
+          (ps2 == ProcessingState.buffering ||
+              ps2 == ProcessingState.loading);
+      if (!stillBuffering) return;
+      final progressed = (_player.bufferedPosition - _stallMarkBuffered) >=
+          const Duration(seconds: 1);
+      if (progressed) {
+        _reconcileStallWatchdog(); // slow but downloading — re-arm
+      } else {
+        unawaited(_recoverPlayback());
+      }
+    });
+  }
+
+  /// Unified recovery for a failed OR stalled stream. Retries the
+  /// current track once (rebuilt from scratch via skipToQueueItem so a
+  /// transient blip doesn't lose it); on exhaustion, surfaces the
+  /// failure (#58 SnackBar) and skips to the next cached track — or
+  /// pauses — instead of blindly walking into more unreachable streams.
+  Future<void> _recoverPlayback() async {
+    _stallTimer?.cancel();
+    _stallTimer = null;
+    final media = mediaItem.value;
+    if (media == null) return;
+    final trackId = media.id;
+    final curIdx = _lastTracks.indexWhere((t) => t.id == trackId);
+    if (curIdx < 0) {
+      try {
+        await _player.pause();
+      } catch (_) {}
+      return;
+    }
+    if (_recoveringTrackId != trackId) {
+      _recoveringTrackId = trackId;
+      _recoverAttempts = 0;
+    }
+    if (_recoverAttempts < _maxRecoverRetries) {
+      _recoverAttempts++;
+      // Rebuild + restart the SAME track (fresh source / HTTP).
+      await skipToQueueItem(curIdx);
+      return;
+    }
+    if (media.title.isNotEmpty) _playbackErrors.add(media.title);
+    _recoveringTrackId = null;
+    _recoverAttempts = 0;
+    await _skipToNextCachedOrPause(curIdx);
+  }
+
+  /// Skips to the first track after [fromIdx] that is fully cached on
+  /// disk (plays with zero network). If none, pauses rather than
+  /// thrashing through unreachable streams on a dead connection.
+  Future<void> _skipToNextCachedOrPause(int fromIdx) async {
+    final mgr = _audioCacheManager;
+    if (mgr != null) {
+      for (var i = fromIdx + 1; i < _lastTracks.length; i++) {
+        if (await mgr.pathFor(_lastTracks[i].id) != null) {
+          await skipToQueueItem(i);
+          return;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    try {
+      await _player.pause();
+    } catch (_) {}
+  }
+
   /// Configures the OS audio session for music playback and wires
   /// interruption + becoming-noisy handling. just_audio auto-activates /
   /// deactivates the session around playback once it's configured, but