[black_eagle]

It doesn't matter what the numbers are, the only important line that matters is the one that ends in m4a. That is the line that tells iTunes or Kodi where to find the track to play.

[ds_tx]

Those lines starting # are just comment lines and don't do anything as far as I'm aware, the only lines which matter are the paths.

Well, I've done a find all/replace all for path and changed all paths in iTunes playlists to what Kodi wants, and why will Kodi NOT play playlists?
I saved playlist on Mac Kodi and it saves it with same # comment lines, but uses /Volumes/ at beginning of path as required by Mac OS instead of /media/ as required by CoreELEC.
I've replaced all /Volumes/ in path with /media/
It's still strange that on Mac Kodi, playlists played first track or two then started playing tracks not on playlist, the quit playing,
until I added path subsititution to advancedsettings.xml on Mac Kodi with smb:, but black_eagle says that a locally connected external HDD is NOT smb.
If not, they why did that clear up issue with iTunes playlists on Mac Kodi? 
They now all play just fine whereas before they didn't, and the only difference is the path substitution.

[ds_tx]

I tried same path substitution for Kodi CoreELEC and it doesn't work at all.

[jjd-uk]

That's it I give up, you're not following any instructions.

[black_eagle]

I tried same path substitution for Kodi CoreELEC and it doesn't work at all.

Because, as I have already explained, smb is a network protocol for sharing files from a server but you have an ordinary external usb drive which doesn't use smb.

Putting smb in the path WILL NEVER WORK!!

I have asked you lots of times to just make a simple playlist on Kodi, with one track off the external drive that actually plays, and to save the playlist and upload the contents of it here.  Yet, you still have not done so. As my crystal ball is away for repair at the moment, I, nor anyone else, can help you.

So, as the dragons would say, for that reason, I'm out.

[ds_tx]

Sorry, I don't recall that you wanted to see the file.
I made changes you recommended, and still no play.
Here are two playlists created with Kodi CoreELEC interface for you to see -
One choosing Albums -
http://dstall.com/TEST.txt
The other choosing Songs -
http://dstall.com/TEST3songs.txt
Here is playlist created by iTunes for which I changed path from /Volumes/ to /media/, but it still does not play.
http://dstall.com/Blues_R&B.txt

[ds_tx]

I have asked you lots of times to just make a simple playlist on Kodi, with one track off the external drive that actually plays, and to save the playlist and upload the contents of it here.  Yet, you still have not done so. 

I did just what you asked, and reported that the playlists I created on KodiCoreELEC play fine.
See file links below, if you have to see code to believe me.

The exact same path will not play from any iTunes generated playlist.
All playlist paths have been corrected to /media/1.MacDOCS/MacDOCS/Music/_iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/ to match the playlists genereated in Kodi CoreELEC.

Playlist created on Kodi CoreELEC from the album /Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble/_A Flood Down In Texas_/ PLAYS - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTalbum.txt
Duplicate copy of that playlist, contents copied and pasted to new file PLAYS - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTalbumdup.txt

Original iTunes playlist edited for correct path with all other album tracks deleted except those in playlists above NO PLAY - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTBlues_R&B.txt
Original iTunes playlist Blues_R&B.m3u contained those tracks and many others but would not play - http://dstall.com/Playlists/Blues_R&B.txt
TESTBlues_R&B. playlist is NO PLAY after editing out all other tracks except from the one album known to play /Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble/_A Flood Down In Texas_/

Same album tracks PLAYS in this Kodi CoreELEC playlist generated from Songs - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTsongs.txt
and this Kodi CoreELEC playlist generated from the album PLAYS (mentioned above) - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTalbum.txt
But the TESTBlues_R&B playlist is NO PLAY, even though it has exact same tracks and path -  http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTBlues_R&B.txt

This playlist created from scratch PLAYS - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTsongs1.txt

The TESTsongs playlist - http://dstall.com/Playlists/TESTsongs.txt shows the following on screen before loading playlist -
Scanning media information
Loading media information from files
special:://profile/playlists/music/Playlist.m3u
Then a horizontal progress bar appears; when finished playlist tracks appear, clicking one begins play.

HOWEVER, playlists that do not play do NOT show this scanning, loading or progress bar.
Playlist tracks appear as list, clicking one makes track names appear in upper right very quickly as if being scanned very quickly, but when complete, click track again NO PLAY.
No progress bar or message ever appears in middle of screen like for large playlist that plays (TESTsongs)
Other playlists that play do not show progress bar but they are much smaller than TESTsongs playlist.

Search the above files and you will see the tracks all listed with the correct path, both playlists that are NO PLAY as well as those that PLAY.

I have noticed that some files were saved as Mac Legacy Mac (CR) so I made sure to correct that by saving all playlists as UNIX (LF) Unicode (UTF-8),
That change had no effect. NO PLAY status of playlists remain unchanged.

FYI There is NO path substitution in advancedsettings.xml; it was deleted long, long ago.

So what else? I've now posted the files you wanted to see.
Are you going to just accuse me of not following instructions, then disappear just without any regard for all the testing I've done and reported to you?

[ds_tx]

All now PLAY. Never mind. Thanks very much for the help.