How do I stop the play/pause keyboard buttons from launching iTunes on Mountain Lion?

Question

The play/pause keyboard buttons always launch iTunes. I want to use a Subsonic client, Thumper. The buttons control Thumper correctly, but I want to prevent iTunes launching.

There was a hacky solution available previously, but that no longer works.

Is there a way to disable this iTunes behaviour?

Answer 1

I searched everywhere for a clean solution. Many solutions that worked for Lion and below no longer worked for Mountain Lion. However, this works and it took me hours to find. Enjoy!

http://gavinroy.com/disabling-default-itunes-launch-behavior-with