I think it has something to do with the touchpad.
I had mine and a friend's Zune, mine a 4, his a 30.
Mine froze up at the main screen, exiting out of Marketplace.
I couldn't do a soft reset, because the touch/d-pad didn't work!
I just had to let the battery drain...
Meanwhile, that 30 was just truckin along...
Micro$oft really needs to fix this...