Neither DOM or SAX can be preferred on the base that �DOM is better� or �SAX is better�. Each has its own class of tasks it suits best, and they both should be used complimentary. For more details you can read this and this threads.
Consider that SAX is a low level parsing method where you have to do all the work whereas DOM is fairly high level and creates an object tree for you. DOM also can be used to output XML where SAX inherently does not. Generally, most DOM parsers are written using a SAX parser. Download JAXP from Sun and try them both out.
<B>Rich Wardwell</B><BR> <A HREF="mailto:rcw3@levelpath.com" rel="nofollow">rcw3@levelpath.com</A> <BR>Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform