Hypebot’s Digital Music QuickNews:

• Apple is nearing the 1 billionth music download mark and should it in the next 30-60 days.  Video downloads top 12 million.
• US P2P activity rose 14% in January over the same month last year despite lawsuits and other initiatives aimed at curbing activity.  According to P2P tracking firm BigChampagne, the average number of simultaneous US P2P users during the month was 6,986,980 and global activity hit 9,670,552 a 15.3 percent increase. Levels also increased over the previous month rising .12%  in the US, and 1.2% globally.
• Yahoo! is offering free upgrades to it’s Music Engine software that works alongside the Music Unlimited subscription service.  The upgrade fixes some bugs and increase options for organizing and sharing music.  "The ability for users to create, manage and search for playlists is a necessity for today’s music fans as they gain access to larger music libraries," said a Yahoo! executive.  The upgrade also adds some home networking options which allow users to distribute music to connected stereo systems.  One example is the Lincsys Wireless-G Music Bridge which was created with Yahoo Music in mind.