diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/audio/mpd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/audio/mpd.nix
index e09e4861646c..c8e5045f6dc2 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/audio/mpd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/audio/mpd.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,14 @@ let
   gid = config.ids.gids.mpd;
   cfg = config.services.mpd;
 
+  credentialsPlaceholder = (creds:
+    let
+      placeholders = (imap0
+        (i: c: ''password "{{password-${toString i}}}@${concatStringsSep "," c.permissions}"'')
+        creds);
+    in
+      concatStringsSep "\n" placeholders);
+
   mpdConf = pkgs.writeText "mpd.conf" ''
     # This file was automatically generated by NixOS. Edit mpd's configuration
     # via NixOS' configuration.nix, as this file will be rewritten upon mpd's
@@ -32,6 +40,8 @@ let
       }
     ''}
 
+    ${credentialsPlaceholder cfg.credentials}
+
     ${cfg.extraConfig}
   '';
 
@@ -152,16 +162,35 @@ in {
         '';
       };
 
-      credentialsFile = mkOption {
-        type = types.path;
+      credentials = mkOption {
+        type = types.listOf (types.submodule {
+          options = {
+            passwordFile = mkOption {
+              type = types.path;
+              description = ''
+                Path to file containing the password.
+              '';
+            };
+            permissions = let
+              perms = ["read" "add" "control" "admin"];
+            in mkOption {
+              type = types.listOf (types.enum perms);
+              default = [ "read" ];
+              description = ''
+                List of permissions that are granted with this password.
+                Permissions can be "${concatStringsSep "\", \"" perms}".
+              '';
+            };
+          };
+        });
         description = ''
-          Path to a file to be merged with the settings during the service startup.
-          Useful to merge a file which is better kept out of the Nix store
-          because it contains sensible data like MPD's password. Example may look like this:
-          <literal>password "myMpdPassword@read,add,control,admin"</literal>
+          Credentials and permissions for accessing the mpd server.
         '';
-        default = "/dev/null";
-        example = "/var/lib/secrets/mpd.conf";
+        default = [];
+        example = [
+          {passwordFile = "/var/lib/secrets/mpd_readonly_password"; permissions = [ "read" ];}
+          {passwordFile = "/var/lib/secrets/mpd_admin_password"; permissions = ["read" "add" "control" "admin"];}
+        ];
       };
 
       fluidsynth = mkOption {
@@ -201,12 +230,15 @@ in {
       serviceConfig = mkMerge [
         {
           User = "${cfg.user}";
-          ExecStart = "${pkgs.mpd}/bin/mpd --no-daemon /etc/mpd.conf";
-          ExecStartPre = pkgs.writeScript "mpd-start-pre" ''
-            #!${pkgs.runtimeShell}
+          ExecStart = "${pkgs.mpd}/bin/mpd --no-daemon /run/mpd/mpd.conf";
+          ExecStartPre = pkgs.writeShellScript "mpd-start-pre" ''
             set -euo pipefail
-            cat ${mpdConf} ${cfg.credentialsFile} > /etc/mpd.conf
+            install -m 600 ${mpdConf} /run/mpd/mpd.conf
+            ${pkgs.replace}/bin/replace-literal -fe ${
+              concatStringsSep " -a " (imap0 (i: c: "\"{{password-${toString i}}}\" \"$(cat ${c.passwordFile})\"") cfg.credentials)
+            } /run/mpd/mpd.conf
           '';
+          RuntimeDirectory = "mpd";
           Type = "notify";
           LimitRTPRIO = 50;
           LimitRTTIME = "infinity";
@@ -230,14 +262,6 @@ in {
         })
       ];
     };
-    environment.etc."mpd.conf" = {
-      mode = "0640";
-      group = cfg.group;
-      user = cfg.user;
-      # To be modified by the service' ExecStartPre
-      text = ''
-      '';
-    };
 
     users.users = optionalAttrs (cfg.user == name) {
       ${name} = {