diff --git a/examples/mpd-client/main.rs b/examples/mpd-client/main.rs
index 09e8f988..b384518d 100644
--- a/examples/mpd-client/main.rs
+++ b/examples/mpd-client/main.rs
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ use empidee::MpdClient;
 async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let socket = tokio::net::TcpSocket::new_v4()?;
     let mut stream = socket.connect("127.0.0.1:6600".parse()?).await?;
-
-    let mut client = MpdClient::new(&mut stream);
-    println!("{}", client.read_initial_mpd_version().await?);
+    let mut client = MpdClient::new(&mut stream).await?;
+    println!("Connected to MPD server: {}", client.get_mpd_version().unwrap_or("unknown"));
 
     client.play(None).await?;
 
diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index c73e7ee5..b8f01ed8 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -9,18 +9,20 @@ use crate::{Request, commands::*, types::SongPosition};
 #[cfg(feature = "futures")]
 use futures_util::{
     AsyncBufReadExt,
-    io::{AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt, BufReader},
+    io::{AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt, BufReader, BufWriter},
 };
 
-use thiserror::Error;
 #[cfg(feature = "tokio")]
-use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt, BufReader};
+use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt, BufStream};
+
+use thiserror::Error;
 
 pub struct MpdClient<'a, T>
 where
     T: AsyncWrite + AsyncRead + Unpin,
 {
-    connection: &'a mut T,
+    stream: BufStream<&'a mut T>,
+    mpd_version: Option<String>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Error, Debug)]
@@ -39,30 +41,53 @@ impl<'a, T> MpdClient<'a, T>
 where
     T: AsyncWrite + AsyncRead + Unpin,
 {
-    pub fn new(connection: &'a mut T) -> Self {
-        MpdClient { connection }
+    pub async fn new(connection: &'a mut T) -> Result<Self, MpdClientError> {
+        let mut client = MpdClient {
+            stream: BufStream::new(connection),
+            mpd_version: None,
+        };
+
+        client.read_initial_mpd_version().await?;
+
+        Ok(client)
     }
 
-    pub async fn read_initial_mpd_version(&mut self) -> Result<String, MpdClientError> {
-        let mut reader = BufReader::new(&mut self.connection);
+    pub async fn wrap_existing(connection: &'a mut T, mpd_version: Option<String>) -> Self {
+        MpdClient {
+            stream: BufStream::new(connection),
+            mpd_version,
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn into_connection(self) -> &'a mut T {
+        self.stream.into_inner()
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_mpd_version(&self) -> Option<&str> {
+        self.mpd_version.as_deref()
+    }
+
+    async fn read_initial_mpd_version(&mut self) -> Result<(), MpdClientError> {
         let mut version_line = String::new();
 
-        reader
+        self.stream
             .read_line(&mut version_line)
             .await
             .map_err(MpdClientError::ConnectionError)?;
 
-        Ok(version_line.trim().to_string())
+        self.mpd_version = Some(version_line.trim().to_string());
+
+        Ok(())
     }
 
     async fn read_response(&mut self) -> Result<Vec<u8>, MpdClientError> {
         let mut response = Vec::new();
-        let mut reader = BufReader::new(&mut self.connection);
 
         loop {
             let mut line = Vec::new();
 
-            let bytes_read = reader
+            let bytes_read = self
+                .stream
                 .read_until(b'\n', &mut line)
                 .await
                 .map_err(MpdClientError::ConnectionError)?;
@@ -88,12 +113,12 @@ where
         let message = Request::Play(position);
         let payload = message.serialize();
 
-        self.connection
+        self.stream
             .write_all(payload.as_bytes())
             .await
             .map_err(MpdClientError::ConnectionError)?;
 
-        self.connection
+        self.stream
             .flush()
             .await
             .map_err(MpdClientError::ConnectionError)?;