Apple has something up his sleeves and the company is trying hard to conceal it. Apple has filed a patent application for a new portable device that could allow users of the iPods to record tunes from thin air and transmit samples of the songs wirelessly to a server that identifies associated media and enables users to purchase and download them. Apple’s filing specifies that a ‘portable media device’ could record a sample, transmit that sample to a server network to identify that sample, and provide the user of the device with numerous media types such as music and video, available for purchase. Analysts say that the move by Apple falls in line with their expectations that the Mac maker would file when plans were well along so it could keep a lid on news leaking out on iPhones and wireless iPods. Apple may also have a deal with XM Satellite in the works. The patent filing makes reference to documents covering MacXM, a program that allows Mac OS X to control an XM Satellite Radio device. And if the analysts are correct in their estimations then we don’t think Apple needs to be afraid of Zune.