iTunes Play/Pause, Next, Previous functions Not Working
I am running Mavericks 10.9.3 and iTunes 11.2.2 (the latest versions, if I'm not mistaken) and I have lost total functionality of the F7, F8, and F9 keys which are the short cuts for previous, play/pause, and next respectively. I've looked into all the function settings and reset everything to their default settings. I have had no luck. I have had Spotify on my machine for at least 6 months now and when that is open, it takes control of the F7, F8, F9 keys and their respective commands. After I quit the application, iTunes regains control. I recently downloaded Google Play music and ever since I have lost use of those keys in iTunes, even when Google Music is not running. I uninstalled Google music from my computer and checked the settings once more to be sure everything is factory default. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them because I'm totally stumped/a little frustrated.
Thanks
MacBook Pro 15" (2009)
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM