diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index c1c6102..e3baee3 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -59,7 +59,12 @@ Repo: https://gitea.apointless.space/bsncubed/aes67-ESP32-P4
     - Download speed ~1.4 Mbit/s over TLS (fine for ~250 kbit/s; tune buffer sizes / per-chunk overhead).
     - Not yet tested: HE-AAC variant (140k), other stations, fMP4/ADTS-only playlists, discontinuities (#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY), network loss and recovery, long runs.
     - Audio starts only after PTP lock (~20 s after boot): intended, TX needs PTP.
-  - [ ] cspot (Spotify Connect)
+  - [ ] cspot (Spotify Connect): login, audio, pause/skip/seek and app volume work (7.5b). Open:
+    - OTA during an active Spotify session made the upload crawl (~10 kB/s) and ended in a reset; worked around by pausing Spotify / suspending HLS for the upload (aes67_ota_on_update). Root cause not found (suspect: flash writes stall PSRAM-heavy tasks). Watch for similar stalls.
+    - First connects sometimes fail ("Can't connect to spotify servers"), a retry works.
+    - Internal heap drops from ~408 KB to ~232 KB with a session; check what can move to PSRAM.
+    - source.mode changes only start/stop Spotify at boot; in hls mode a running session's audio is dropped (it races through the queue).
+    - Mute at 0 % volume not yet confirmed.
   - [ ] failover (auto mode) + /api/player
 - [ ] 8. Mono sum, gain, polish.
 
diff --git a/components/aes67_ota/aes67_ota.c b/components/aes67_ota/aes67_ota.c
index 81d6403..beaee87 100644
--- a/components/aes67_ota/aes67_ota.c
+++ b/components/aes67_ota/aes67_ota.c
@@ -23,6 +23,26 @@
 
 static const char *TAG = "ota";
 
+#define MAX_UPDATE_CBS 4
+static aes67_ota_update_cb_t s_update_cbs[MAX_UPDATE_CBS];
+static int s_update_n;
+
+esp_err_t aes67_ota_on_update(aes67_ota_update_cb_t cb)
+{
+    if (s_update_n >= MAX_UPDATE_CBS) {
+        return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM;
+    }
+    s_update_cbs[s_update_n++] = cb;
+    return ESP_OK;
+}
+
+static void notify_update(bool starting)
+{
+    for (int i = 0; i < s_update_n; i++) {
+        s_update_cbs[i](starting);
+    }
+}
+
 static bool is_pending(void)
 {
     esp_ota_img_states_t st;
@@ -114,6 +134,7 @@ static esp_err_t ota_post(httpd_req_t *req)
     esp_ota_handle_t ota = 0;
     size_t total = 0, fill = 0;
     const char *err_msg = NULL;
+    bool notified = false;
     int64_t t0 = esp_timer_get_time();
 
     while (total < req->content_len) {
@@ -137,6 +158,8 @@ static esp_err_t ota_post(httpd_req_t *req)
             }
             const esp_app_desc_t *d = (const esp_app_desc_t *)(buf + DESC_OFFSET);
             ESP_LOGI(TAG, "image %.32s %.32s", d->project_name, d->version);
+            notify_update(true);    // project quiets streaming/decoding before the flash writes
+            notified = true;
             if (esp_ota_begin(dst, OTA_WITH_SEQUENTIAL_WRITES, &ota) != ESP_OK) {
                 err_msg = "ota begin failed";
                 break;
@@ -154,15 +177,20 @@ static esp_err_t ota_post(httpd_req_t *req)
         if (ota) {
             esp_ota_abort(ota);
         }
+        if (notified) {
+            notify_update(false);
+        }
         // Rejected before the whole body was read: close instead of draining it.
         httpd_resp_set_hdr(req, "Connection", "close");
         return reject(req, err_msg);
     }
     esp_err_t err = esp_ota_end(ota);  // verifies the image (checksum/hash, chip)
     if (err != ESP_OK) {
+        notify_update(false);
         return reject(req, err == ESP_ERR_OTA_VALIDATE_FAILED ? "image verification failed" : "ota end failed");
     }
     if (esp_ota_set_boot_partition(dst) != ESP_OK) {
+        notify_update(false);
         return httpd_resp_send_err(req, HTTPD_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "could not set boot partition");
     }
     ESP_LOGW(TAG, "installed to %s in %.1f s, rebooting", dst->label,
diff --git a/components/aes67_ota/include/aes67_ota.h b/components/aes67_ota/include/aes67_ota.h
index 3c134aa..a33e476 100644
--- a/components/aes67_ota/include/aes67_ota.h
+++ b/components/aes67_ota/include/aes67_ota.h
@@ -2,8 +2,16 @@
 // Core component: must not depend on main/ (project code).
 #pragma once
 
+#include <stdbool.h>
+
 #include "esp_err.h"
 
 // Registers /api/ota routes. If the running image is pending verification, starts the
 // self-test: IP address + own web server answering within 60 s, else roll back.
 esp_err_t aes67_ota_init(void);
+
+// Called with true right before an accepted upload starts writing flash, and with false if that
+// upload then fails (on success the device reboots). Lets the project quiet heavy work (streaming,
+// decoding) during the flash writes. Up to 4 callbacks.
+typedef void (*aes67_ota_update_cb_t)(bool starting);
+esp_err_t aes67_ota_on_update(aes67_ota_update_cb_t cb);
diff --git a/components/spotify/include/spotify.h b/components/spotify/include/spotify.h
index 5fde0e5..cf76032 100644
--- a/components/spotify/include/spotify.h
+++ b/components/spotify/include/spotify.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Spotify Connect (cspot). Project code; GPL-3.0 through cspot.
 #pragma once
 
+#include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 
@@ -24,6 +25,8 @@ typedef void (*spotify_event_cb_t)(spotify_event_t ev, int value);
 // Registers the zeroconf endpoints (/spotify_info) and, when source.mode is spotify/auto and the
 // client credentials are set, advertises the device and starts the session task.
 esp_err_t spotify_init(spotify_pcm_cb_t pcm, spotify_event_cb_t event);
+// Pause/resume the running session (the Spotify app follows). No-op without a session.
+void spotify_pause(bool pause);
 // Current state for status.spotify_state.
 const char *spotify_state(void);
 
diff --git a/components/spotify/spotify.cpp b/components/spotify/spotify.cpp
index 291d777..d1dc881 100644
--- a/components/spotify/spotify.cpp
+++ b/components/spotify/spotify.cpp
@@ -30,9 +30,19 @@ static std::shared_ptr<cspot::LoginBlob> s_blob;
 static std::atomic<bool> s_got_blob{false};
 static std::atomic<const char *> s_state{"disabled"};
 static std::atomic<uint64_t> s_pcm_bytes{0};
+static std::shared_ptr<cspot::SpircHandler> s_handler;    // running session, else null
 static spotify_pcm_cb_t s_pcm_cb;
 static spotify_event_cb_t s_event_cb;
 
+extern "C" void spotify_pause(bool pause)
+{
+    auto h = s_handler;
+    if (h) {
+        h->setPause(pause);
+        ESP_LOGI(TAG, "%s", pause ? "paused" : "resumed");
+    }
+}
+
 const char *spotify_state(void)
 {
     return s_state.load();
@@ -225,6 +235,7 @@ static void session(void)
         }
         ESP_LOGI(TAG, "event %s", event_name(ev->eventType));
     });
+    s_handler = handler;
     s_state = "connected";
     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "connected as %s", ctx->config.username.c_str());
     while (true) {
@@ -246,6 +257,7 @@ static void spotify_task(void *arg)
             s_state = "error";
             ESP_LOGE(TAG, "session ended: %s", e.what());
         }
+        s_handler.reset();
         vTaskDelay(pdMS_TO_TICKS(2000));
     }
 }
diff --git a/main/hls.c b/main/hls.c
index 24825ed..5a8a3b9 100644
--- a/main/hls.c
+++ b/main/hls.c
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@ static media_pl_t *s_pl;            // parsed media playlist (PSRAM)
 static char s_url[URL_MAX];         // configured URL
 static char s_media_url[URL_MAX];
 static uint8_t *s_seg;              // current segment (PSRAM)
+static volatile bool s_suspended;
+
+void hls_suspend(bool suspend)
+{
+    s_suspended = suspend;
+}
 
 // hls_url when source.mode needs HLS, else "".
 static void wanted_url(char *out, size_t n)
@@ -50,6 +56,9 @@ static void wanted_url(char *out, size_t n)
 
 static bool still_wanted(void)
 {
+    if (s_suspended) {
+        return false;
+    }
     char u[URL_MAX];
     wanted_url(u, sizeof(u));
     return strcmp(u, s_url) == 0;
@@ -237,7 +246,7 @@ static void hls_task(void *arg)
 {
     while (1) {
         wanted_url(s_url, sizeof(s_url));
-        if (!s_url[0]) {
+        if (!s_url[0] || s_suspended) {
             vTaskDelay(pdMS_TO_TICKS(1000));
             continue;
         }
diff --git a/main/hls.h b/main/hls.h
index 0c791c4..ed55de5 100644
--- a/main/hls.h
+++ b/main/hls.h
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@
 typedef bool (*hls_sink_t)(const uint8_t *data, size_t len, bool segment_start);
 
 esp_err_t hls_start(hls_sink_t sink);
+// Stop fetching (current download is abandoned) until resumed.
+void hls_suspend(bool suspend);
diff --git a/main/player.c b/main/player.c
index 3646529..e11b1cf 100644
--- a/main/player.c
+++ b/main/player.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include "aes67_cfg.h"
+#include "aes67_ota.h"
 #include "aes67_tx.h"
 #include "aes67_web.h"
 #include "audio_out.h"
@@ -156,6 +157,25 @@ static void spotify_event(spotify_event_t ev, int value)
     }
 }
 
+// Firmware upload: flash writes stall everything running from PSRAM; a Spotify session
+// streaming at the same time made uploads crawl and end in a reset. Quiet the sources meanwhile.
+static void on_ota(bool starting)
+{
+    static bool paused_spotify;
+    if (starting) {
+        paused_spotify = s_src == PLAYER_SRC_SPOTIFY && !s_paused;
+        spotify_pause(true);
+        hls_suspend(true);
+        ESP_LOGI(TAG, "firmware update: sources paused");
+    } else {
+        hls_suspend(false);
+        if (paused_spotify) {
+            spotify_pause(false);
+        }
+        ESP_LOGI(TAG, "firmware update failed: sources resumed");
+    }
+}
+
 static void player_status(cJSON *st)
 {
     const char *state = s_src == PLAYER_SRC_TONE ? "playing" : s_src == PLAYER_SRC_OFF ? "idle" :
@@ -186,6 +206,7 @@ esp_err_t player_init(void)
         return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM;
     }
     spotify_init(spotify_pcm, spotify_event);
+    aes67_ota_on_update(on_ota);
         err = hls_start(decoder_feed);
     if (err != ESP_OK) {
         return err;