diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dc23bf1..aaae683 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -63,9 +63,14 @@ Everything written into the mirror is made group-readable, and its directories
 group-traversable, so the mirror can be read back by whatever serves it. Neither
 writer does that unaided: the temporary file an encode renames into place is
 created `0600` regardless of the umask, and a straight copy of an existing MP3
-inherits the mode of a source file in a library this tool does not own. Only the
-group bits are touched; whether the mirror is world-readable stays with the
-umask, as does the ownership.
+inherits the mode of a source file in a library this tool does not own.
+
+Directories are handled by clearing the owner and group read/execute bits from
+the process umask, once, at startup. Owner as well as group, because a umask
+carrying `0400` produces directories of mode `0300` — writable and enterable,
+unreadable to the very run that created them. The `other` bits are left where
+the umask puts them: whether the mirror is world-readable is a genuine policy
+question, and so is its ownership.
 
 Mirror files written before this existed are topped up on the next pass. Their
 mtimes are correct, so nothing else would revisit them — and they are not
diff --git a/music_mirror.py b/music_mirror.py
index cf8a6b6..7b4c263 100644
--- a/music_mirror.py
+++ b/music_mirror.py
@@ -84,7 +84,12 @@ MTIME_TOLERANCE_SECONDS = 2
 # that may be tighter still. Directories need the execute bit too, or the group
 # cannot enter them to reach the readable files inside.
 GROUP_READ = 0o040
-GROUP_ENTER = 0o050
+
+# Cleared from the umask so directories this run creates can be listed and
+# entered. Owner as well as group: a umask carrying 0400 -- which is unusual but
+# not ours to assume away -- otherwise produces a mirror tree that not even the
+# process that built it can read back.
+DIRECTORY_ACCESS = 0o550
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -505,12 +510,14 @@ def main(argv=None):
     logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s", level=logging.INFO)
     args = build_parser().parse_args(argv)
 
-    # Directories are created with 0o777 masked by the umask, so clear the group
-    # bits from it once here rather than chmod'ing every directory the walk
-    # creates. Files cannot be handled this way -- mkstemp and copy2 both set a
-    # mode outright -- so they get an explicit chmod instead.
+    # Directories are created with 0o777 masked by the umask, so clear the bits
+    # that matter from it once here rather than chmod'ing every directory the
+    # walk creates. The `other` bits are left alone, since whether the mirror is
+    # world-readable is a real policy question; owner and group access is not.
+    # Files cannot be handled this way -- mkstemp and copy2 both set a mode
+    # outright, ignoring the umask -- so they get an explicit chmod instead.
     inherited = os.umask(0o077)
-    os.umask(inherited & ~GROUP_ENTER)
+    os.umask(inherited & ~DIRECTORY_ACCESS)
 
     if not args.source or not args.mirror:
         logger.error("both --source and --mirror are required")
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index abcac25..753d029 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -27,6 +27,21 @@ def tight_umask():
     os.umask(previous)
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def owner_hostile_umask():
+    """Return a callable applying a umask that masks off the owner's read bit.
+
+    Unusual, but it is what produces a mirror tree of mode 0300 -- writable and
+    enterable, unreadable to the very process that built it. Applied on demand
+    rather than for the whole test, because the source library is built by
+    something else entirely and the same umask would make the test's own
+    fixtures unreadable before the run under test even started.
+    """
+    previous = os.umask(0o022)
+    yield lambda: os.umask(0o477)
+    os.umask(previous)
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def make_flac():
     """Return a factory writing a short tagged FLAC file."""
diff --git a/tests/test_music_mirror.py b/tests/test_music_mirror.py
index 238302e..b609985 100644
--- a/tests/test_music_mirror.py
+++ b/tests/test_music_mirror.py
@@ -222,6 +222,27 @@ def test_mirror_directories_are_group_traversable(tmp_path, make_flac, tight_uma
         assert mode & stat.S_IXGRP, directory
 
 
+def test_mirror_directories_survive_an_owner_hostile_umask(
+    tmp_path, make_flac, owner_hostile_umask
+):
+    """A umask carrying 0400 otherwise builds a tree the run cannot read back."""
+    source = tmp_path / "src"
+    mirror = tmp_path / "dst"
+    make_flac(source / "Artist" / "Album" / "a.flac")
+
+    # Applied only now: the library already exists, and the umask under test is
+    # the one the container starts this run with.
+    owner_hostile_umask()
+    run(source, mirror)
+
+    for directory in (mirror, mirror / "Artist", mirror / "Artist" / "Album"):
+        mode = directory.stat().st_mode
+        assert mode & stat.S_IRUSR, directory
+        assert mode & stat.S_IXUSR, directory
+        assert mode & stat.S_IRGRP, directory
+        assert mode & stat.S_IXGRP, directory
+
+
 def test_private_mirror_file_is_repaired_without_re_encoding(tmp_path, make_flac):
     """A mirror written by an older version has a correct mtime, so nothing
     else in the pass would revisit it."""