diff --git a/hosts/common/home/fs.nix b/hosts/common/home/fs.nix
index eb34502c..bb9b15b4 100644
--- a/hosts/common/home/fs.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/home/fs.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     "Books"
     "Music"
     "Pictures"
-    "Videos"
+    "Videos/local"
 
     # these are persisted simply to save on RAM.
     # ~/.cache/nix can become several GB.
diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/gpodder.nix b/hosts/common/programs/gpodder.nix
index be5ccd98..71c49904 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/gpodder.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/gpodder.nix
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ in {
     sandbox.whitelistDbus = [ "user" ];  # it won't launch without it, dunno exactly why.
     sandbox.whitelistWayland = true;
     sandbox.net = "clearnet";
-    sandbox.extraHomePaths = [ "Videos/gPodder" ];
 
     fs.".config/gpodderFeeds.opml".symlink.text = feeds.feedsToOpml wanted-feeds;
 
-    # XXX: we preserve the whole thing because if we only preserve gPodder/Downloads
-    #   then startup is SLOW during feed import, and we might end up with zombie eps in the dl dir.
-    persist.byStore.plaintext = [ ".local/share/gPodder" ];
+    persist.byStore.plaintext = [
+      "Videos/gPodder"
+      # if you don't persist its database, you get untracked (and hence non-gc'd) downloads, plus slooow startup.
+      ".local/share/gPodder"
+    ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
index 2b869ab5..93406588 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
       "Music"
       "Pictures"
       "Pictures/servo-macros"
-      "Videos"
+      "Videos/local"
       "Videos/servo"
       "knowledge"
       "tmp"