As Cati said, there are plenty of excellent MP3 players (MP3 is the name given to the way the sound is stored/compressed, in the same way a picture can be .jpg or .tiff) on the market. The iPod has simply been the most successful of these, mostly down to excellent branding and stylish looks (apple managed to hit the right product with the right looks at the right time - and have been laughing all the way to the bank ever since).
If you call into any electronics/tv/sound shops (or even Argos have a wide selection to give you an idea of the different options available) they'll have a wide range to pick from. If you chat with the staff they'll happily take you through the different sizes (memory - how many songs it can hold) and features on offer.
If it’s simply for learning the language a fairly small sized memory would do. The more expensive ones (~ €300) are that price for the huge memory available. People now hold their entire music collections on portable MP3 players.... but if that’s not what you’re looking for you can find far more affordable solutions.