Yeah, this is the only solution that I can see at the moment. Just another observation - running the player with the -s- option also means that you wont be able to get to a serial prompt. So either install telnetd (but not if you use your empeg on a public/work network - or remember that you can use ftp to obliterate that preinit script should you ever need to get to the shell prompt.

There is another option - *Don't* put the command in a loop, and ensure that you have quit=1 in your config.ini (can't remember which section - check the FAQ). That way you can use the Quit menu item when it's necessary to get a shell prompt. This will cause the -s-'d incarnation of the player to exit and then the real init will then run, starting the player in stock form, hence making the serial port available for shell access.

I don't really think that losing your empgps-capable player when syncing is really an issue - I'm guessing that you only sync at home, and only use empgps in the car...