diff --git a/src/play_queue.vala b/src/play_queue.vala
index 1e49892..0a8df44 100644
--- a/src/play_queue.vala
+++ b/src/play_queue.vala
@@ -15,51 +15,35 @@ internal class Audrey.PlayQueue : GLib.Object, GLib.ListModel, Gtk.SelectionMode
         this.inner.items_changed.connect (this.on_inner_items_changed);
     }
 
-    // only called by playbin on track transition
+    // only called by playbin
     // does not emit user_selected
-    internal void playbin_advance (uint new_position)
-            requires (this.current_position < this.get_n_items ())
-            requires (this.current_position+1 == new_position)
-            ensures (this.current_position == new_position)
-    {
-        this.current_position += 1;
-        if (this.current_position < this.inner.get_n_items ()) {
-            // previous track unselected, this newly selected
-            this.selection_changed (this.current_position-1, 2);
+    internal void playbin_select (uint new_position) {
+        var previous_position = this.current_position;
+        this.current_position = new_position;
+
+        if (previous_position < this.inner.get_n_items ()) {
+            if (new_position < this.inner.get_n_items ()) {
+                if (previous_position < new_position) {
+                    this.selection_changed (previous_position, new_position-previous_position+1);
+                } else {
+                    this.selection_changed (new_position, previous_position-new_position+1);
+                }
+            } else {
+                this.selection_changed (previous_position, 1);
+            }
         } else {
-            // end of play queue reached
-            // only previous track unselected
-            this.selection_changed (this.current_position-1, 1);
+            if (new_position < this.inner.get_n_items ()) {
+                this.selection_changed (new_position, 1);
+            }
         }
     }
 
     // called by anything else that wishes to switch tracks
     // emits user_selected
     public void user_select (uint position)
-            requires (position <= this.get_n_items ())
+            requires (position < this.get_n_items ())
     {
-        var previous_position = this.current_position;
-        this.current_position = position;
         this.user_selected (position);
-
-        if (previous_position == this.get_n_items ()) {
-            // nothing selected before
-            if (position == this.get_n_items ()) {
-                // ...nothing selected after
-            } else {
-                // select new
-                this.selection_changed (position, 1);
-            }
-        } else {
-            if (position == this.get_n_items ()) {
-                // unselect previous
-                this.selection_changed (previous_position, 1);
-            } else if (position < previous_position) {
-                this.selection_changed (position, previous_position-position+1);
-            } else {
-                this.selection_changed (previous_position, position-previous_position+1);
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     private void on_inner_items_changed (GLib.ListModel inner, uint position, uint removed, uint added) {
diff --git a/src/playbin.vala b/src/playbin.vala
index 741b08c..d1e74c9 100644
--- a/src/playbin.vala
+++ b/src/playbin.vala
@@ -25,18 +25,21 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
 
     public PlaybinState state { get; private set; default = PlaybinState.STOPPED; }
 
-    // true if a timer should update the postion property
+    // true if a timer should update the position property
     private bool update_position = false;
     public int64 position { get; private set; default = 0; }
 
     public Subsonic api { get; set; default = null; }
 
     // sent when a new song starts playing
+    // continues: whether the track is a gapless continuation
     public signal void now_playing (bool continues, uint index, Song song, int64 duration);
 
-    // FIXME this should be synced with the selection model, right??
-    public uint playing_index { get; private set; }
+    // the index of the track in the play queue that is currently playing
+    // must equal play queue len iff state is STOPPED
+    public uint current_position { get; private set; }
 
+    // whether we are expecting a gapless continuation next
     private bool next_gapless;
 
     private void source_setup (Gst.Element playbin, dynamic Gst.Element source) {
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
 
     // ASSUMPTION: about-to-finish will be signalled exactly once per track
     // even if seeking backwards after
-    GLib.AsyncQueue<string> next_uri = new GLib.AsyncQueue<string> ();
+    private GLib.AsyncQueue<string> next_uri = new GLib.AsyncQueue<string> ();
 
     private ListModel _play_queue = null;
     private ulong _play_queue_items_changed;
@@ -79,27 +82,30 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
             return;
         }
 
-        if (this.playing_index >= position) {
-            if (this.playing_index < position+removed) {
+        if (this.current_position >= position) {
+            if (this.current_position < position+removed) {
                 // current track was removed, start playing something else
                 // TODO check if it was actually reordered
 
-                this.begin_playback (position);
+                if (position == play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
+                    this.stop ();
+                } else {
+                    this.select_track (position);
+                }
             } else {
                 // unaffected
                 // fix up playing index though
-                this.playing_index += added;
-                this.playing_index -= removed;
+                this.current_position = this.current_position + added - removed;
             }
-        } else if (this.playing_index+1 == position) {
+        } else if (this.current_position+1 == position) {
             // next track was changed
             // try to fix up gapless transition
             string? next_uri = this.next_uri.try_pop ();
             if (next_uri != null) {
                 // we're in luck, about-to-finish hasn't been triggered yet
                 // we can get away with replacing it
-                if (this.playing_index+1 < play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
-                    Song song = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.playing_index+1);
+                if (this.current_position+1 < play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
+                    Song song = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.current_position+1);
                     this.next_uri.push (this.api.stream_uri (song.id));
                 } else {
                     this.next_uri.push ("");
@@ -165,17 +171,17 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
             bool continues = this.next_gapless;
             if (this.next_gapless) {
                 // advance position in play queue
-                this.playing_index += 1;
+                this.current_position += 1;
             } else {
                 this.next_gapless = true;
             }
 
-            var now_playing = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.playing_index);
+            var now_playing = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.current_position);
             if (this.api.stream_uri (now_playing.id) == (string) this.playbin.current_uri) {
-                this.now_playing (continues, this.playing_index, now_playing, duration);
+                this.now_playing (continues, this.current_position, now_playing, duration);
 
-                if (this.playing_index+1 < play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
-                    Song song = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.playing_index+1);
+                if (this.current_position+1 < play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
+                    Song song = (Song) play_queue.get_item (this.current_position+1);
                     this.next_uri.push (this.api.stream_uri (song.id));
                 } else {
                     this.next_uri.push ("");
@@ -183,7 +189,7 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
             } else {
                 // edge case
                 // just flush everything and pray next stream-start is fine
-                this.begin_playback (this.playing_index);
+                this.select_track (this.current_position);
             }
         });
 
@@ -207,10 +213,13 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
         }
     }
 
-    public void begin_playback (uint position) {
+    // manually changes which track in the play queue to play
+    public void select_track (uint position)
+            requires (position < this.play_queue.get_n_items ())
+    {
         this.state = PlaybinState.PLAYING;
 
-        this.playing_index = position;
+        this.current_position = position;
         this.playbin.set_state (Gst.State.READY);
         this.playbin.uri = this.api.stream_uri (((Song) this.play_queue.get_item (position)).id);
         this.playbin.set_state (Gst.State.PLAYING);
@@ -234,4 +243,10 @@ class Playbin : GLib.Object {
         this.playbin.set_state (Gst.State.PLAYING);
         this.state = PlaybinState.PLAYING;
     }
+
+    public void stop () {
+        this.playbin.set_state (Gst.State.READY);
+        this.state = PlaybinState.STOPPED;
+        this.current_position = this.play_queue.get_n_items ();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/ui/window.vala b/src/ui/window.vala
index a70f8ed..70f23c4 100644
--- a/src/ui/window.vala
+++ b/src/ui/window.vala
@@ -65,13 +65,11 @@ class Ui.Window : Adw.ApplicationWindow {
                 this.song = song;
                 this.duration = duration;
                 api.scrobble.begin (song.id);
-                if (continues) {
-                    this.play_queue_model.playbin_advance (position);
-                }
+                this.play_queue_model.playbin_select (position);
             });
 
             this.play_queue_model.user_selected.connect ((position) => {
-                this.playbin.begin_playback (position);
+                this.playbin.select_track (position);
             });
 
             public_api = api;
@@ -191,12 +189,14 @@ class Ui.Window : Adw.ApplicationWindow {
     }
 
     [GtkCallback] private void on_skip_forward_clicked () {
-        this.play_queue_model.user_select (this.playbin.playing_index+1);
+        if (this.playbin.current_position+1 < this.playbin.play_queue.get_n_items ()) {
+            this.playbin.select_track (this.playbin.current_position+1);
+        }
     }
 
     [GtkCallback] private void on_skip_backward_clicked () {
-        if (this.playbin.playing_index > 0) {
-            this.play_queue_model.user_select (this.playbin.playing_index-1);
+        if (this.playbin.current_position > 0) {
+            this.play_queue_model.user_select (this.playbin.current_position-1);
         }
     }