The latest thing to pop out of the rumor mill is that Apple is working on a service similar to the Pandora radio service. This started off with a report from The Wall Street Journal, and was backed by The New York Times filling out it’s own report.

The service would work across all of Apple’s products, from Macs, iPhone, iPad, and would even run on Windows PC’s. Sorry Android.

Apple only recently initiated licensing negotiations with record labels for its putative service, and even if it does complete deals, it could be a matter of months when such a service might launch, according to these people.

The company has in the past contemplated and abandoned other interactive features, including a Spotify-like service that would have let users rent unlimited amounts of music for a fixed monthly fee. But people familiar with the current talks say they appear to be more serious than those previous tentative inquiries.

As on Pandora, the music would be interspersed with ads, in this case carried by Apple’s iAd platform, which syndicates ads to iPhone and iPad apps.

WSJ says Apple is negotiating its own licensing deals with record companies. The New York Times has also filed its own report, citing “three people briefed on Apple’s plans”. The report claims the service would arrive as an app that could interface with the user’s iTunes account.

Apple’s service would likely take the form of a pre-installed app on Apple’s devices like iPhones and iPads and might be able to connect to a user’s iTunes account to judge his or her tastes.

Don’t expect it at the iPhone media event though. Neither of the reports have a concrete estimate, with both pointing “months away”.

Could the months away part of this source just a secrecy wall? If I were you, I won’t be surprised if they talk about this Thursday at the much rumored iPhone 5 announcement!

[via MacRumors]