iTunes.app Permissions - Operation Not Permitted

[groovyd]

Since the latest update I can no longer change file permissions of Applications/iTunes.app which I used to disable execute permissions to prevent iTunes from popping open every time i hit a media key on my keyboard since I prefer to use Media Center to handle those keystrokes. As far as I know there is no other way to prevent iTunes from stealing these keys. After the latest update I get 'Operation Not Permitted' when trying to re-enable execution permissions to enable iTunes again in order to update it to the latest version which I have to do every time they release an update. Until now I could go back and forth with this with no problems and now I am stuck with disabled iTunes that I can't use and I can't upgrade. Anyone else unable to edit the permissions on iTunes.app?