Hi,
Here is how I have made my Logitech keyboard with the fancy "media" buttons work properly with MC, meaning Windows Media Player does not always come up when you use the Play/Pause button regardless of MC's status and all the controls work exclusively and snapily with MC even if it doesn't have the focus...
I'm running Windows XP, with the latest version of Logitech's iTouch (2.15.264)
www.logitech.com and MC 9.1.269 installed.
Steps
1. Copy the following text between the dashed lines into a new .txt file using Notepad, not including the dashed lines, and yes, the \\'s look wierd but must stay in:
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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Media Center]
@="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center"
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Note: You may wish to change to C: to another drive if your \Program Files is rooted in another drive. Also note that the paths referred in this registry key are the default location for MC and if you changed the default location when installing you will have to edit the paths to reflect. Ignore this note if your hard disk is C: and you just installed MC by defaults.
2. Rename the extension of the .txt file to .reg
Note: You may need to make your Windows display extensions by deselecting "hide extensions for known file types" in Folder Options.
3. Double-click the .reg file you have just created (from any folder location) and answer positively to any prompts until it has been added to the registry.
Note: I created the new key and strings in regedit and then exported it to what you see pasted above. It's not a manual hack job and is a valid key generated by regedit.
4. Do a search of your \Program Files folder for a file called "players.ini".
5. Open the players.ini file in Notepad and add the following test as a single line to the bottom of the file:
MediaCenter=wac,Media Jukebox.exe,MJFrame,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,0,1,Media Center
Note: the test shown above may wrap in the Interact/browser display window but it should appear as one neat line at the bottom of the players.ini file, and you will see that it conforms to the format established by all the other player entries above it. The simple Copy function should work fine.
6. Restart Windows for the the players.ini to be re-read when iTouch is initiated, etc.
7. Test and enjoy!
Note: The only thing you can't do is press Play to launch MC. Open MC as you would any normal program and then all the keyboard functions should work fine!
If it doesn't work and you're paranoid about the registry edit, just navigate the registry (using regedit at the Run line) to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Media Center
...and outright delete the "Media Center" key (folder) from the tree. This totally reverses what was done by double-clicking the .reg file. Then just re-edit the players.ini file to remove the extra line you added. Restart Windows and you're back to square one.
But it worked perfectly for me!