audio files using cpu

when I open a single audio file it says its using 10 -20% is this normal?
I tried songbird, itunes and vlc and they all stay around that mark while a single file is playing

 

That depends on what audio file you play and on what Mac with what CPU.

An .mp3 file played in VLC on a 2GHz C2D CPU gets VLC 5% CPU activity.

So what do you play on what with how much?

 

white macbook 2.26ghz intel core 2 duo with 4gb ram
audo files are ripped at 192kbps bit rate
and I mostly use songbird since all my music is on an external hard drive