Can someone recommend a cheap Ipod/Mp3 player

[Dappy777]

I just want a cheap Mp3 player to play podcasts, guided meditations, audiobooks, a few songs, etc. I don't own (or want) an Iphone. I've been on Amazon, but there are just too many to choose from.

You don't need an iphone specifically - any smart phone should do it. The user interface will likely be much better than MP3 (where I imagine the tech hasn't been updated for years, as they're essentially defunct), and you can access whichever streaming platforms you like/are subscribed to.

Are you playing the podcasts and music via Spotify (or similar) or downloading them, so just the mp.3 type thing?

I use an old Nokia lumia phone. It's pretty useless in many ways as the windows App Store no longer works, but I can download load files from my PC and then put it on my phone. I have a huge book selection and podcasts on there. Lots of music too. The camera is quite handy and it does work as an emergency back up phone, although it's old the blue tooth is good and connects to my headphones with no issues.
If you want to download straight to the device then you'll need either an android phone or old iPhone (without a sim)/ iPod. I had an iPod touch 7 generation, but the battery was shite and then one day it just stopped working altogether (I think this was a reasonably common issue with the 6/7 gens.)
My main bit of advice would be get something with a decent amount of memory (I like my Nokia as i can put an extra memory card in, giving my 64GB of memory).

I know you said you don't want or need an iPhone, but my old iPhone five is basically a glorified MP3 player as the SIM card reader failed!