Android SDK Manager Java “Loading Sources” Excepti

I'm trying to get started with the Android SDK on OS X 10.6.8 but can't load any packages in the SDK manager.

Here's what I see in the SDK Manager: http://sarahtube.s3.amazonaws.com/20111221_Android_GUI_SDK_Manager_GUI_Java_Exception.jpg

Here's my Java/JDK:

$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_29"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_29-b11-402-10M3527)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.4-b02-402, mixed mode)

Here's the exception I get on loading the SDK or trying to update from within the SDK manager or from the command line:

Exception in thread "Loading Sources" java.lang.AbstractMethodError: org.apache.xerces.dom.DeferredElementNSImpl.getTextContent()Ljava/lang/String; at com.android.sdklib.internal.repository.AddonsListFetcher.parseAddonsList(AddonsListFetcher.java:470) at com.android.sdklib.internal.repository.AddonsListFetcher.fetch(AddonsListFetcher.java:170) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.repository.UpdaterData.loadRemoteAddonsListInTask(UpdaterData.java:1042) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.repository.UpdaterData.access$900(UpdaterData.java:73) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.repository.UpdaterData$5.run(UpdaterData.java:1012) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.tasks.ProgressView$2.run(ProgressView.java:128) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.tasks.ProgressView.startTask(ProgressView.java:150) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.tasks.ProgressViewFactory.start(ProgressViewFactory.java:44) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.repository.UpdaterData.loadRemoteAddonsList(UpdaterData.java:1010) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.repository.sdkman2.PackageLoader$1.run(PackageLoader.java:169) at com.android.sdkuilib.internal.tasks.ProgressView$2.run(ProgressView.java:118) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:680)

I get this error with both R15 and R16 of the SDK. I previously installed R11 but that didn't work either so deleted that when R15 was released.

I have already set https URLs to be retrieved over http.

I'd really like to get into Android development so any advice would be appreciated.

Solved! Answering my own question as this might help others in the future.

After reading this answer problems with java installation (xerces) on mac I found an ancient xerces,jar in /Users/MYUSERDIR/Library/Java/Extensions/

Moving this out of the Extensions directory solved the issue.

Thanks stackoverflow (and me).