What’s the difference between Simplified and Traditional transcripts?

The difference is in the Chinese characters. Simplified transcripts use simplified Chinese characters; traditional transcripts use traditional characters. Traditional characters are what was used in China before 1949. After the People’s Republic of China was declared, the government reformed the writing system to reduce illiteracy among Chinese peasants, and part of that reform removed strokes from many characters to make them easier to write and to learn.

In Taiwan, which is still officially the Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are still used. In Mainland China, all books written before 1949 use traditional characters, including those written thousands of years ago, such as Tang poems. Other than the characters, there is no difference between the two versions: both use the phonetic alphabet, Pinyin.